The relation between longing for touch and the implicit evaluation of images of touch

Longing for touch (LFT) refers to the discrepancy between the amount of touch that is desired and received. Previous studies have suggested that LFT might influence the perception of touch, but the results are conflicting. These studies also have relied exclusively on subjective and explicit measures, which can be prone to several biases. To circumvent these biases, the current study uses a novel implicit association test (IAT) to assess how LFT is associated with the perception of touch. In this version of the IAT, target stimuli consisted of images of people touching and images of people that did not depict touch. Seventy-two people without neurological, psychological or skin-related disorders participated in the study. After completing the IAT, the explicit wanting and liking of the target stimuli was assessed. LFT was measured with two visual analogue scales. In line with our expectations, LFT was significantly and positively associated with the explicit evaluation of images of touch. However, there was no relation between LFT and performance on the IAT. It is possible that the current version of the IAT primarily assessed implicit liking, while deprivation of touch may be more strongly associated with (implicit) wanting. Additional research is needed to further investigate this. The implications of these results and other directions for future research are discussed.