Assessing the link between touch perception, sensory reactivity, and social difficulties

Abstract

Touch forms the basis of developing social and communication functions. difficulties in touch perception are associated with social difficulties, and anxiety; both of which are common in neurodevelopmental conditions such as Autism. We aimed to understand the link between touch perception, sensory reactivity, social difficulties, and how they associate with autistic traits, gender differences, and variation in levels of anxiety. We examined that link in a general population with a sample of 16 participants (15 female, 1 male) that went through a series of psychophysical and cognitive tasks to examine subjective experience to tactile input touch, as well as social touch preferences. The results showed a significant effect of force and material on sensory reactivity, but no effect was found for duration of touch. Furthermore, we found a significant effect of gender and role on social touch preferences, as well as a negative correlation between autistic traits and average social touch ratings. Our findings suggest that individuals with lower autistic traits will generally find touch more pleasant and implies that autistic individuals are more reactive towards the same stimulus than neurotypical individuals. Additionally, those with greater autistic traits are least likely to find social touch pleasant, and individuals are more likely to rate social touch as more pleasant when the touch giver is of the same gender.