Hedonic Touch in Neurological Conditions
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Hedonic Touch in Neurological Conditions
IRAS ID
163423
Contact name
Monty Silverdale
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
CRN Greater Manchester, NHS Salford CCG
Duration of Study in the UK
4 years, 0 months, 3 days
Research summary
For millions of years, human beings have communicated with each other through touch. Whether this is simply a reassuring pat on the back, a shake of the hand or even sexual contact, we are all able to gain reassurance and pleasure simply when someone touches our skin. This reassuring or pleasant touch is sometimes called “Hedonic Touch”. Recently it has been discovered that there are nerves in the skin which are involved in “Hedonic Touch”, and these nerves can potentially become damaged in a variety of conditions including Parkinson’s disease, diabetes, Fabry’s disease and various other Neurological conditions.
We are interested to find out whether the sensation of pleasant touch or “Hedonic Touch” is altered in people with Neurological disease. We are also interested to find out if problems with “Hedonic Touch” are the cause of any symptoms in people with Neurological disease.
It may be that “Hedonic Touch” is not altered in Neurological diseases. On the other hand it may be the case that “Hedonic Touch” is affected by various Neurological diseases and actually contributes to symptoms such as depression and difficulty with social interactions.
We wish to assess “Hedonic Touch” in people with various Neurological diseases. We also wish to assess Hedonic Touch in people without Neurological diseases to act as a comparison.
The assessment will take about 40 minutes in total. We will gently stroke the participant's skin with a soft brush and ask them to describe the sensation using a validated touch questionnaire and also to rate whether the sensation is pleasant using a Visual Analogue Scale.
We will also ask questions about other symptoms using simple validated questionnaires.
REC name
London - Bromley Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/LO/0252
Date of REC Opinion
12 Feb 2015
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion