Touch in action: IASAT Conference Jena 2025

Introduction

This past June, the International Association for the Study of Affective Touch (IASAT) organized her biennial international conference, where researchers from around the world shared their results and findings related to affective touch and the sense of touch. Neuroscientists understand affective touch as stimulation of nerve fibers found in the hairy skin—and to a lesser extent in glabrous skin—which specifically encode slow, gentle touches (by definition, slow is between 3–10 cm/sec). This nerve fiber is a type of afferent unmyelinated nerve fibers called “C-tactile afferent fibers,” or simply CTs.

These were intensive and inspiring days. We attended long and short presentations on topics related to touch, and we engaged in conversations about research during poster presentations. The conferences also offered the opportunity to connect—over meals or drinks—with a diverse group of researchers and professional touch practitioners who seek a deeper understanding of the theoretical models underlying their work.

Touch in Action

At the IASAT conference two years ago in Marseille, a group emerged consisting of touch therapists from various disciplines, including three haptotherapists from the Netherlands. This group, called Touch in Action, now has 15 members from different countries. During the recent IASAT conference in Jena, the group was invited to contribute to the program.

This year, the conference was organized by researchers from the universities of Jena and Innsbruck. They were enthusiastic about the proposal to offer conference participants the opportunity to experience therapeutic affective touch. Researchers measure, know, and structure. Therapists work with various forms of touch and learn by doing and observing. We from Touch in Action hoped for cross-pollination.

In preparation for our participation in Jena, our group of enthusiasts spent a week together in southern Spain to get to know one another better. There we were able to experience each other’s therapies and forms of touch (such as effleurage, a resting hand, pressure, extended touch), and to share our knowledge of the underlying theories. Therapies presented were: Calatonia and subtle touch therapy, Shiatsu, Mindful-Touch Education, Qigong Sensory Treatment, Relaxation Therapy, Body Psychotherapy and Haptotherapy.

It was an intensive and very inspiring gathering. What surprised us—and at the same time did not—was that at the core, the different touch therapies overlap, even though the explanatory models differ. Affective touch, being present with the other, sincere intention, respect, safety, and transparency turned out to have a central place in all these therapies.

Our goal as Touch in Action is to connect the world of practitioners with the research world. Such a development takes time. Sharing our craftsmanship with researchers, as we did through Touch in Action, is an important step in this process. The IASAT Organization was open to a new form of knowledge sharing—different from what they had been accustomed to. Who knows what may come of this?

Standing, from left to right: Susan Frazer, Maria Irene Crespo Gonçalves, Eleonore ten Thij, Rita Griesche, Sue Clayton, Agnes van Swaay. Kneeling, from left to right: Françoise Wibbels-Pancras, Anita Ribeiro Blanchard, Sabine Baeyens, Ilona Croy (co-organizer IASAT 2025).

Success

Touch in Action was a success at the conference. People were curious and even stood in line to experience the different forms of touch.

In Linköping, at the 2019 IASAT conference, this step had not yet been possible. Since the International Journal of Haptonomy and Haptotherapy (IJHH) was one of the sponsors at the time, haptotherapists were given the honor of helping evaluate the poster presentations. But for something like the touch experiences offered now by Touch in Action, the time simply wasn’t ripe then. In Linköping, there was a large delegation of haptotherapists. In 2025, there were only three of us. We did not ask them, but it might be understandable that some colleagues no longer attend the conferences. At first glance, the topics were not always directly relevant for therapists. Topics that were prominent at the time included measuring CT activity, biopsies to harvest CT’s from genetically modified mice, touch in social interactions, and haptic interfaces for digital devices.

Nevertheless, several touch therapists still participate. The knowledge shared about neurology and the effects of touch provides useful starting points for scientific foundation of our profession haptotherapy and can also be clinically relevant. For example, we now know that modulation of the legs dampens the amygdala, which reduces anxiety.

Glimpse of this year’s conference research

We saw presentations on the effect of affect regulating massage therapy on depression. We learned that vision influences touch, and that touch—including self-touch—has a positive effect on heart rate, stress, body awareness, and contact with one’s inner self. We gained more insight into why touch can reduce pain. Giving touch appears to be almost as pleasant as receiving it.

Touch frequency seems to decline as people age and as relationships last longer. On average, we kiss and hold our partners 11–20 times per week (holding our heads preferably to the left), we hug 6–10 times per week, and more on weekends than during the week. Hugging helps reduce stress and decreases the likelihood of illness and conflict. Now figure out whether you are hugging above or below average…

Reciprocity turns out to be crucial for a positive touch experience: it makes touch perceived as 10 times more positive than self-touch or one-sidedly initiated touch. Research was presented on describing touch experiences, and on which emotions can be conveyed through touch. Touch increases our interoceptive awareness, and improved interoception enhances emotional communication.

Observing touch produces somatosensory resonance, and possibly increased brain activity involved in socio-emotional processes. Touch makes us more social, generous, and kind, and forms a buffer against depression. We even seem to share gut flora through touch, contributing to each other’s anti-stress and immune systems; there appears to be a kind of skin–gut–brain axis in the body.

Touch engages two reward systems in the brain: one based on dopamine and one based on opioid inhibition, in which oxytocin is released, contributing to the desire for touch. However, oxytocin only reaches our reward system when touch is meaningful. Unlike pain signals, the pleasant feelings evoked by affective touch do not diminish.

We also heard about the development of social robots that respond to touch and emotions, and of intelligent textiles that make use of skin responses.

In short, we witnessed a colourful collection of interesting findings and open doors— which may be an indication of the second phase of a relatively young research field.

Of particular interest to us was the emergence of new directions in touch research that consider context more fully and rely less on the original descriptive definition of “affective touch.” Researchers now realize that many more types of touch can be pleasant, and they want to explore the anatomy and the factors that contribute to the pleasurable experience of touch.