Högskolan i Skövde

This current study aimed at investigating human affective touch and its relation to endogenous release of dopamine. The main experiment, which provided the material that was later analyzed in this project, was carried out at the University of Linköping, on 42 couples. The female participants engaged in fMRI scanning and provided blood samples, while gentle touch was administered, to the right dorsal armand palm, by the partner, or by a stranger. The plasma samples, that have been investigated in this study, were collected during seven different time points. The two functional runs of the experiment, featured the partner and stranger touch in a pseudorandomized manner. Blood samples were analyzed by ELISA, in particular by using the 3-CAT ELISA kit (ImmuSmol, BA E-6600). The collected data was analyzed performing Mann Whitney U tests and Spearman’s correlations. The maximum dopamine values, recorded during partner and stranger touch, in both functional runs, were significantly more elevated during partner touch (p=0.018). Spearman’s correlation was performed on the maximum dopamine and oxytocin values recorded, in both runs, during partner and stranger touch. These analyses detected non-significant relationships between the variables. The same kind of investigation was conducted on maximum noradrenaline and dopamine levels recorded during partner and stranger touch. These correlation studies, since they exhibited p values > 0.05, and small r coefficients,suggested that the relationships, between the variables mentioned above, were non-significant. To conclude, affective touch, from a loved one, is thought to affect dopamine endogenous release. Nevertheless, additional research is needed in order to establish more robust conclusions.