Is cultural context the crucial touch? Neurophysiological and self-reported responses to affective touch in women in South Africa and the United Kingdom

Affective touch, involving touch-sensitive C-tactile (CT-) afferent nerve fibres, is integral to human development and wellbeing. Despite presumed cultural differences, affective touch research typically includes ‘Western’, minority-world contexts, with findings extrapolated cross-culturally. We report the first cross-cultural study to experimentally investigate subjective and neurophysiological correlates of affective touch in women in South Africa (SA) and the United Kingdom (UK) using (1) subjective touch ratings, and (2) cortical oscillations for slow CT-optimal (vs. faster non-CT-optimal) touch on two body regions (arm, palm). Cultural context modulated affective touch experiences: SA (vs. UK) participants rated touch as more positive and less intense, with enhanced differentiation in sensorimotor beta band oscillations, especially during palm touch. UK participants differentiated between stroking speeds, with opposite directions of effects at arm and palm for frontal theta oscillations. Results highlight the importance of cultural context in subjective experience and neural processing of affective touch.