Gentle touch activates the anterior prefrontal cortex: An NIRS study

Tetsuo Kida; Kazuyuki Shinohara

doi:10.1016/j.neures.2013.03.006

Gentle touch activates the anterior prefrontal cortex: An NIRS study

Tetsuo Kida, Kazuyuki Shinohara^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Waseda Institute for Advanced Study

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

30 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Gentle touching of the hand activates emotion- and reward-related regions of the brain. The present study investigated activation of the prefrontal cortex by gentle sweeps of the palm or forearm with three materials (wood, velvet, paintbrush) using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). Sweeps of the left palm with a sensuous velvet fabric increased the oxy-hemoglobin (oxy-Hb) concentration in the frontal-polar cortex (FPC) and a part of the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), compared to a neutral touch produced by rounded wood. Pleasantness ratings were higher for the velvet than wood. In conclusion, the present study revealed the involvement of the FPC/OFC in pleasant emotion produced by gentle touch to the hand.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	76-82
Number of pages	7
Journal	Neuroscience Research
Volume	76
Issue number	1-2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neures.2013.03.006
Publication status	Published - 2013 May

Keywords

Emotion
Pleasant touch
Reward

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Neuroscience(all)

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10.1016/j.neures.2013.03.006

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title = "Gentle touch activates the anterior prefrontal cortex: An NIRS study",

abstract = "Gentle touching of the hand activates emotion- and reward-related regions of the brain. The present study investigated activation of the prefrontal cortex by gentle sweeps of the palm or forearm with three materials (wood, velvet, paintbrush) using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). Sweeps of the left palm with a sensuous velvet fabric increased the oxy-hemoglobin (oxy-Hb) concentration in the frontal-polar cortex (FPC) and a part of the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), compared to a neutral touch produced by rounded wood. Pleasantness ratings were higher for the velvet than wood. In conclusion, the present study revealed the involvement of the FPC/OFC in pleasant emotion produced by gentle touch to the hand.",

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AB - Gentle touching of the hand activates emotion- and reward-related regions of the brain. The present study investigated activation of the prefrontal cortex by gentle sweeps of the palm or forearm with three materials (wood, velvet, paintbrush) using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). Sweeps of the left palm with a sensuous velvet fabric increased the oxy-hemoglobin (oxy-Hb) concentration in the frontal-polar cortex (FPC) and a part of the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), compared to a neutral touch produced by rounded wood. Pleasantness ratings were higher for the velvet than wood. In conclusion, the present study revealed the involvement of the FPC/OFC in pleasant emotion produced by gentle touch to the hand.

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Gentle touch activates the anterior prefrontal cortex: An NIRS study

Abstract

Keywords

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