Affective Touching
Neurobiology and Technological Applications
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Cambridge University Press
Published:20th Feb '25
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
This hardback is available in another edition too:
- Paperback£17.00(9781009484374)

This Element discusses the implications of a new type of touch in humans, 'slow', affective touch nerves C Tactile afferents.
Part I ofthis Element offers a history of the science of social touch, from related discoveries in mammals by physiologists in the 1930s, to the recent rediscoveries of the CT nerves in humans. Part II considers how these findings are being intentionally folded into technologies for interaction.At the end of the twentieth century the discovery of 'slow', affective touch nerves in humans known as C Tactile (CT) afferents, which are entirely separate from the faster pathways for touching objects, had huge social implications. The Swedish neuroscientists responsible formulated an “affective touch hypothesis” or “social touch hypothesis” to consider their purpose. Part I offers a history of the science of social touch, from related discoveries in mammals by physiologists in the 1930s, to the recent rediscoveries of the CT nerves in humans. Part II considers how these findings are being intentionally folded into technologies for interaction. First, as mediated social touch, communicating at a distance through haptics. Second, with the increasing number of social and service robots in health care and domestic settings, the role of affective touch within human-robot interaction design.
ISBN: 9781009484367
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
76 pages