The social brain has a nerve: insights from attachment and autistic phenotypes. (June 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Jackson, Emily E; McGlone, Francis P; Haggarty, Connor J
• Is Part Of: Current opinion in behavioral sciences. Volume 45(2022)
• Publication Date: 2022-06
• Subjects: Psychology -- Periodicals; 150.5
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cobeha.2022.101114
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2352-1546

Abstract

Highlights: Social withdrawal is a feature of both avoidant attachment and ASC. Affective touch processing is altered in autistic and avoidant phenotypes. Early somatosensory experiences play a central role in neurodevelopment. The C-tactile system is responsible for the experience of affective touch. Neural and physiological systems are implicated in touch pathophysiology. Abstract : Research in the mid-20th century raised the probability that unloving and neglectful care hinders healthy infant development. More recent observations of atypical neurodevelopment among post-institutionalised and pre-term infants illustrate the relative benefits of nurturing physical care. In short, early touch exposure correlates with subsequent adult behaviour. This paper focuses on recent novel research linking a lack of early nurturing touch, both by necessity (i.e. in the case of NICU infants), and in the case of avoidant individuals who withdraw from social touch, with the subsequent development of colloquially defined 'autism-like' phenotypes. Here we propose that avoidant attachment, together with early touch deprivation, plays a central role in the adverse experience of affective touch, as mediated by C-tactile afferents. This manifests as withdrawal motivation, a behaviour commonly observed in Autism Spectrum Condition. Here, this hypothesis, together with evidence of other underlying biological mechanisms are discussed.