The Experience of Affective Touch in Anorexia Nervosa (AffTouch_AN)

The Experience of Affective Touch in Obesity: the Role of Social Anhedonia and Lifespan Experiences

The aim of the present research will be to verify if the pleasantness of affective touch is comparable between women with AN and healthy women while measuring the level of social anhedonia and the lifespan experience of affective touch.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Anorexia Nervosa
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Affective touch paradigm

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Actual): 60

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Italy
  • VCO
    • Piancavallo, VCO, Italy, 28824
      • IRCCS Istituto Auxologico Italiano - Ospedale San Giuseppe

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 50 years (Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Participants with AN were consecutively recruited during their rehabilitative treatment at the Istituto Auxologico Italiano, IRCCS, San Giuseppe Hospital (Italy).

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Description

Inclusion criteria:

• Right-handed
• diagnosis of restricting type or binge-eating/purging type AN, according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th Edition)'s criteria (DSM, American Psychiatric Association, 2013).

Exclusion Criteria:

• Concurrent neurological, neurodevelopmental (e.g., autism), motor, somatosensory and/or psychiatric disorders
• Evidence of any skin-related condition possibly affecting sensitivity on the participants' forearm (e.g., eczema, scars).

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Number of groups / cohorts

2

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort	Intervention / Treatment
Cases; Right-handed women diagnosed with restricting type or binge-eating/purging type AN, according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th Edition)'s criteria (DSM, American Psychiatric Association, 2013), will be consecutively recruited during their rehabilitative treatment at the Istituto Auxologico Italiano, IRCCS, San Giuseppe Hospital (Italy). Concurrent neurological, neurodevelopmental (e.g., autism), motor, somatosensory and/or psychiatric disorders will be the exclusion criteria, as well as the evidence of any skin-related condition possibly affecting sensitivity on the participants' forearm (e.g., eczema, scars)	Other: Affective touch paradigm; Affective touch paradigm: experimental stimuli will include the touch of a soft cosmetic, a hand, which will be both expected to resemble affective pleasant stimulations, and a plastic stick with a rounded tip, as a control (non-affective) condition. Two speeds of stimulation will be adopted i) slow affective stimuli delivered at 3 cm/s and fast non-affective stimuli, delivered at non-optimal speed (18 cm/s). An imagery version of the task will be also administered: blindfolded participants will be asked to image the touches on their left forearm. After each (actual or imagined) tactile stimulus, individuals will rate the experience level of pleasantness. As part of the protocol, they will fill out two psychological questionnaires, assessing the level of social anhedonia and the amount and characteristics of the lifespan experiences of affective touch in close relationships.
Controls; Age-matched, right-handed, healthy women (i.e., with no history of eating disorders) will be recruited outside the hospital through personal contacts of the researchers and word-of-mouth.	Other: Affective touch paradigm; Affective touch paradigm: experimental stimuli will include the touch of a soft cosmetic, a hand, which will be both expected to resemble affective pleasant stimulations, and a plastic stick with a rounded tip, as a control (non-affective) condition. Two speeds of stimulation will be adopted i) slow affective stimuli delivered at 3 cm/s and fast non-affective stimuli, delivered at non-optimal speed (18 cm/s). An imagery version of the task will be also administered: blindfolded participants will be asked to image the touches on their left forearm. After each (actual or imagined) tactile stimulus, individuals will rate the experience level of pleasantness. As part of the protocol, they will fill out two psychological questionnaires, assessing the level of social anhedonia and the amount and characteristics of the lifespan experiences of affective touch in close relationships.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Rating of subjective pleasantness	Behavioural outcome associated with the experimental paradigm: participants will be asked to rate the pleasantness of the tactile stimuli after each stimulation with a score ranging from zero not pleasant at all) to 100 (extremely pleasant).	Baseline

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Social Anhedonia Score	Social anhedonia will be evaluated with the Anticipatory and Consummatory Interpersonal Pleasure Scale (ACIPS, Gooding and Pflum, 2014); this is a 17-item self-report measure of individuals' tendency to look forward to interactions with others (anticipatory interpersonal pleasure - 7 items) and experienced pleasure in social interactions (consummatory interpersonal pleasure - 10 items). The ACIPS is scored on a Likert scale ranging from 1 (very false for me) to 6 (very true for me); higher scores indicate higher anticipatory and consummatory interpersonal pleasure.the assessment	Baseline
Affective experience Score	The lifespan experience of affective touch in close relationships will be assessed with the Tactile Biography questionnaire (TBIO, Beltrán et al., 2020). This includes a 29-item self-report measure scored on a Likert scale ranging from 1 (e.g., not at all true for me) to 5 (e.g., extremely true) that evaluate four independent components: the frequency of and satisfaction for affective touch i) in childhood/adolescence and ii) adulthood, iii) comfort with and iv) fondness for interpersonal touch in close relationships. However, the experience of affective touch in adulthood was not included in the analyses since most of our participants did not have long experience in adult relationships since their age. Three additional items allow the recording of the feelings experienced in bodily affective interactions, the presence of negative/unpleasant experiences involving interpersonal touch and the preference for giving and/or receiving affective touch.affective touch in close relationships.	Baseline

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Istituto Auxologico Italiano
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Federica Scarpina, PhD, IRCCS Istituto Auxologico Italiano

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): October 6, 2021
• Primary Completion (Actual): October 1, 2023
• Study Completion (Actual): October 1, 2023

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: February 22, 2023
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 3, 2023
• First Posted (Actual): March 6, 2023

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimated): August 26, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 20, 2025
• Last Verified: August 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: affective touch; social anhedonia; lifespan bodily contacts; Interpersonal relationships
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Neurologic Manifestations; Nervous System Diseases; Mental Disorders; Neurobehavioral Manifestations; Feeding and Eating Disorders; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms; Signs and Symptoms; Anhedonia; Anorexia Nervosa
• Other Study ID Numbers: 21C127

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No