will take place on Tuesday, February 11st, 2025 from 16:00 to 17:00 hours online
Meeting-Link: https://uni-luebeck.webex.com/meet/ulrike.kraemer
Host: Prof. Ulrike Krämer
Institut für Medizinische Psychologie
Abstract: Throughout human history, the physical proximity to trusted individuals has been paramount for survival. To establish and maintain this proximity, humans evolved a sophisticated social motivational system, which works similarly to the systems that regulate physiological parameters such as energy and body temperature. Research suggests that gentle skin-to-skin touch shapes the social motivational system both structurally and functionally. It has revealed a positive relationship between such touch and the neural circuitry referred to as the social brain and has provided ample evidence that touching supports bodily homeostasis including pain and stress reduction and has longer-term effects on well-being. Why and how touch can play such an important role are current research questions. Work from my lab tackles these questions by examining the properties of natural skin-to-skin touch and by attempting to link these properties to somatosensory processes at different levels of the human nervous system and the social brain. In this talk, I will share insights from our laboratory's work and show that social touch continues to be important in the modern, digital age.
