Figure 2

Hedonic and autonomic responses. (a) Bar plots show the mean pleasantness ratings reported by participants in the four conditions: affective touch given to a Stranger without Eye Contact (Non-eye Contact condition; dark green), to a Stranger with Eye Contact (Eye Contact condition; light green), to the Partner without Eye Contact (dark purple) and to the Partner with Eye Contact (light purple). Values shown are the mean ±  s.e.m. (b) Single-trace examples of raw electrodermal activity (EDA) aligned to the time of affective touch with a Stranger, with or without Eye Contact (light green on the top and dark green at the bottom, respectively). Vertical dotted grey line indicates the beginning of affective touch period (36 s duration). (c) Single-trace examples of raw EDA activity aligned to the time of affective touch with the Partner, with or without Eye Contact (light purple and dark purple, respectively), same format as (b). (d) Z-scored mean EDA values during affective touch delivered without Eye Contact (Non-eye Contact condition) and with Eye Contact (Eye Contact condition). (e) Z-scored mean EDA values during affective touch delivered to a Stranger and the Partner. (f) Z-scored mean EDA values when affective touch was delivered without Eye Contact (Non-eye Contact condition) and with Eye Contact (Eye Contact condition) separately for Stranger (green) and Partner (purple). (g) Z-scored mean EDA values when affective touch was delivered by Males or Females, separately for Stranger (green) and Partner (purple). Values shown are z-scored ± s.e.m. Significant results are indicated by asterisk * = p < 0.05; ** = p < 0.01; *** = p < 0.001. n.s. = not significant.