TouchNet is structured into two major research pillars:
How often does touching occur, under what conditions does it have to take place in order to have an effect?
Workpackage 1: Touch in the Real World
We conduct large-scale field experiments using Ecological Momentary Assessment. People get access to a special App, in which they track the quantity, contexts, and types of touch over a certain amount of time in their daily lives. Our goal is to collect over 100,000 individual touch events to understand how the frequency, context and individual factors influence people’s well-being in everyday life.
Workpackage 2: The Neural Blueprint of Touch
Using state-of-the-art 3-Tesla and 7-Tesla MRI and fNIRS hyperscanning, we investigate how affective touch activates social and allostatic-interoceptive networks. We aim to identify neural pathways that facilitate social orientation and inter-person synchronization. These studies aim to show how touch modulates the brain’s social and regulatory circuits and how it may literally bring minds into sync.