What happens to humans when we can't touch?
What happens to humans when we can't touch?
DAVID LINDEN, Author, Unique: The New Science of Human Individuality: Human interpersonal touch is crucial. It's social glue. ROBIN DUNBAR, Evolutionary Psychologist: I think we underestimate how important touch actually is in our social interaction. Human touch is key to our survival. It's in our DNA. DAVID LINDEN: Touch is deeply under-researched. There are probably 100 papers on vision for every one on touch. We tend to take touch for granted. KATERINA FOTOLOULOU, Professor of Psychodynamic Neuroscience: Touch relies literally on the whole of our skin. It's the organ of touch. But what happens when we touch other people? And why is that special? KATERINA FOTOLOULOU: Touching other people is processed by the brain with different mechanisms. We discovered very late - only in the 1990s that in humans we have a specialised set of ells in the skin, which then travel with specialised pathways to particular parts of the brain. And this system is called the C-Tactile System. CAPTION: TOUCH APPEARS TO BE PART OF OUR NATURE. CAPTION: PRIMATES SPEND 10-20% OF THEIR WAKING LIFE GROOMING. CAPTION: HUMANS NO LONGER HAVE FUR... BUT WE SHARE MUCH IN COMMON WHEN IT COMES TO TOUCH. ROBIN DUNBAR: The hand strokes parting the fur sends this signal to the brain saying, "You're in close physical contact with your best friend here." And what that does in the brain is trigger the endorphin system. We feel very relaxed, and - particularly important trusting in the person we're doing this activity with. And that creates this sense of friendship. CAPTION: THE HAIRY PART OF THE HUMAN ARM IS DESIGNED TO BE STROKED, AND IT'S MOST EFFECTIVE AT A PARTICULAR SPEED... ROBIN DUNBAR: Light, slow, stroking at exactly 2.5cm a second. DAVID LINDEN: This is the caress that we are hard-wired to like. VOX POP: It's comforting! INTERVIEWER: What happens here then? REBEKKA MIKKOLA, Hug Therapist, Nordic Cuddle: So the cuddle sessions take place at one of the pods. Cuddle therapy involves hugs, stroking, squeezes all sorts of forms of platonic touch. It's a very simple practice. Yet it can actually have rather powerful effects on people. CAPTION: STUDIES HAVE SHOWN THAT TOUCH IMPROVES WELLBEING AND CAN EVEN ACT AS A PAINKILLER. CAPTION: TOUCH IS THE FIRST SENSE WE LEARN AS A BABY. CAPTION: IT'S HOW WE FIRST COMMUNICATE... AND IT'S VITAL FOR EARLY DEVELOPMENT. REBECCA SLATER, Professor of Paediatric Neuroscience: It can stabilise their heart rate. It can improve their weight gain. And some studies for low birth weight babies even suggest that the time they stay in hospital can be reduced if they have lots of touch stimulation. It's really forming the first part of social bonding. ROBIN DUNBAR: Which is why I say if you really want to know how somebody feels about you, don't listen to what they tell you, just feel how they touch you. CAPTION: BUT ACCORDING TO THE TOUCH TEST SURVEY OF ALMOST 40,000 PEOPLE IN MORE THAN 110 COUNTRIES, MORE THAN HALF OF US SAY WE ARE NOT GETTING ENOUGH TOUCH IN OUR LIVES. COMMISSIONED BY WELLCOME COLLECTION. DEVELOPED BY GOLDSMITHS UNIVERSITY (JAN 21 - MARCH 30 2020) CAPTION: THE PROBLEM IN ITS MORE SEVERE FORM IS KNOWN AS "TOUCH HUNGER". CAPTION: AND THERE ARE CONCERNS IT COULD START TO AFFECT MORE OF US... DAVID LINDEN: If we have a situation where we're not able to touch the people in our daily lives that we normally touch, it's not like everything is going to fall apart instantly. But our feelings of connection, of empathy, of trust will slowly degrade. DEBBIE ANSELM, Teaching Assistant: Anybody who I care about, you get a hug. So my biggest struggle is not being able to hug my mum, to wash her hair, to do all the things that we do bonding - paint her nails, I do her feet for her. That one broke my heart. Still when I think about it, I could cry. KATERINA FOTOLOULOU: If you deprive an animal of touch, the animals become literally sick both in the mind - they develop a lot of anxiety and also they live less, and they're less healthy in the long term. REBECCA SLATER: The whole social concept of touch is really changing in society. INTERVIEWER: Does it feel like the pupils are learning not to touch? DEBBIE ANSELM: It does feel a little bit like that, which is sad. KATERINA FOTOLOULOU: When people during lockdown were exposed to films where there was natural touch, people had a jump. They started talking to the TV, "No, you can't do that!" So that's a good sign of how quickly we learn to inhibit ourselves. REBECCA SLATER: I don't think you'll see people interacting in the same way that we did before the pandemic. ROBIN DUNBAR: I find it very unlikely that we would ever lose the sense of importance of touch. You should never say never, when it comes to evolution. But it will all depend on whether other forms of behaviour that allow us to trigger the endorphin system in the brain to create friendships, really start to work better or more efficiently than physical touch. And I suspect that's unlikely unless we give up all notion of having romantic relationships. DEBBIE ANSELM: I think the future should be hugs - all day. All day, every day.
