Chronic, pathological pain remains a global health problem and a challenge to basic and
clinical sciences. A major obstacle to preventing, treating, or reverting chronic pain has been …

Small everyday gestures such as a tap on the shoulder can affect the way humans feel and
act. Touch can have a calming effect and alter the way stress is handled, thereby promoting …

Human-human social touch improves mood and alleviates pain. No studies have so far
tested the effect of human-robot emotional touch on experimentally induced pain ratings, on …

Background Being touched by others improves stress coping. However, when touch from
others is unavailable, feels uncomfortable, or is not considered to be safe (as in the COVID …

Oxytocin (OT), a nonapeptide, has a variety of functions. Despite extensive studies on OT
over past decades, our understanding of its neural functions and their regulation remains …

Comforting touch involves contact distress-alleviating behaviors of an observer towards the
suffering of a target. A growing number of studies have investigated the effects of touch on …

Recognizing and aligning individuals' unique adaptive beliefs or “priors” through
cooperative communication is critical to establishing a therapeutic relationship and alliance …

Background: Affectionate touch, which is vital for mental and physical health, was restricted
during the Covid-19 pandemic. This study investigated the association between momentary …

Social touch between humans, as well as between humans and animals, was previously
found to reduce pain and stress. We previously reported that touching a social robot can …

Possible interactions of the neuropeptide oxytocin and the sex hormone estradiol may
contribute to previously observed sex-specific effects of oxytocin on resting-state functional …