Aβ-CT Affective Touch: Touch Pleasantness Ratings for Gentle Stroking and Deep Pressure Exhibit Dependence on A-Fibers.

Gentle stroking of the skin is a common social touch behavior with positive affective consequences. A preference for slow versus fast stroking of hairy skin has been closely linked to the firing of unmyelinated C-tactile (CT) somatosensory afferents. Because the firing of CT afferents strongly correlates with touch pleasantness, the CT pathway has been considered a social-affective sensory pathway.