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Being able to empathise with others is a crucial ability in everyday life. However, this does not usually entail feeling the pain of others in our own bodies. For individuals with mirror-sensory synaesthesia (MSS), however, this form of empathic embodiment is a common feature. Our study investigates the empathic ability of adults who experience MSS using a video-based empathy task. We found that MSS participants did not differ from controls on emotion identification and affective empathy; however, they showed higher affect sharing (degree to which their affect matches what they attribute to others) than controls. This finding indicates difficulties with self-other distinction, which our data shows results in fewer signs of prosocial behaviour. Our findings are in line with the self-other control theory of MSS and highlight how the use of appropriate empathy measures can contribute to our understanding of this important socio-affective ability, both in typical and atypical populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Affective touch has been reported for its calming effects; however, it is less clear whether touch is associated with sleep. Here, the relationship between different touch variables and self‐reported sleep indicators was investigated. Data were extracted from the Touch Test, a cross‐sectional survey conducted in 2020. Data from a sample of 15,049 healthy adults from the UK (mean age = 56.13, SD = 13.8; 75.4% female) were analysed. Participants were asked to attribute positive, negative, or no effects on sleep to hugs, strokes, massages, intimate touch, and sleep onset with and without touch. The time since last intentional touch, touch amount satisfaction, and childhood bed routine with hugs and kisses were assessed. Sleep quality, duration, latency, wake after sleep onset and diurnal preference were measured. Data were analysed using chi‐square tests and logistic regressions. Affective touch before sleep was perceived to have positive effects on sleep. Touch recency emerged as a significant predictor for some sleep variables, with a longer timespan since the last intentional touch relating to improved sleep quality, longer sleep duration, and shorter and fewer instances of waking up after sleep onset in some participants. Experiencing too much touch was related to lower sleep quality and higher instances of waking up after sleep onset. These findings highlight the importance of interpersonal touch for subjective sleep quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Prior research suggests that different types of touch can affect sleep, but whether there is a consistent association between tactile intimacy and sleep quality is unclear. Here, we report a pre‐registered systematic review (International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews [PROSPERO], CRD42020158683) of studies examining the association between tactile intimacy and sleep quality in healthy adults. The databases PsycINFO, PubMed, Web of Science, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials and EMBASE were searched on August 7, 2020. A total of 13 studies met the inclusion criteria and were synthesised qualitatively. Most commonly, articles researched sexual intimacy in relation to sleep quality, but some studies also investigated non‐sexual affective touch and emotionally neutral touch. Some evidence for a connection between sexual function, sexual satisfaction and masturbation with sleep quality was found; however, no evidence for an association between sexual frequency or sexual positions and sleep was found. Interestingly, studies employing more subjective approaches were more likely to report an association between touch and sleep, potentially highlighting a discrepancy between self‐reported and the objectively measurable association between touch and sleep. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) describes an atypical multisensory experience of calming, tingling sensations that originate in the crown of the head in response to a specific subset of audio‐visual triggers. There is currently no tool that can accurately classify both ASMR‐Responders and non‐responders, while simultaneously identifying False‐Positive cases that are similar sensory‐emotional experiences. This study sought to fill this gap by developing a new online psychometric tool – the ASMR‐Experiences Questionnaire (AEQ). Participants watched a series of short ASMR videos and answered sensory‐affective questions immediately afterwards. Using a k‐means clustering approach, we identified five data‐driven groupings, based on tingle‐ and affect‐related scores. ASMR‐Responders differentiate based on ASMR propensity and intensity (ASMR‐Strong; ASMR‐Weak); non‐responders differentiate based on response valence (Control+; Control−; False‐Positive). Recommendations for how the AEQ and the respective output groups can be best utilized to enhance ASMR research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]