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Recent studies show that CT-optimal touch, gentle slow stroking of the skin, can reduce pain. However, much is unknown regarding the factors influencing its pain-ameliorating effect, such as tactile attention and touch application site. The current study investigates in 36 healthy individuals, whether CT-optimal touch can reduce temporal summation of second pain (TSSP) compared to CT non-optimal touch and tapping the skin. TSSP refers to activation of the C-nociceptors; by stimulating these fibers a burning and/or tingling sensation can be elicited. All participants underwent three conditions on both the contralateral and ipsilateral side of pain induction. The results show that tapping the skin did not reduce TSSP, meaning that pain reduction through touch cannot be explained by tactile attention effects. CT non-optimal touch only reduced TSSP when applied on the ipsilateral side. Importantly, CT-optimal touch effectively reduced TSSP when applied on the contralateral or ipsilateral side. Furthermore, CT-optimal touch was more effective in reducing TSSP compared to CT non-optimal touch and Tapping. This study shows that that CT-optimal touch can reduce TSSP and this effect appears to be independent of touch application site, which is highly relevant for implementing CT-optimal touch as a treatment.

One of the most underdiagnosed and undertreated non-motor symptoms of Parkinson's Disease is chronic pain. This is generally treated with analgesics which is not always effective and can cause several side-effects. Therefore, new ways to reduce chronic pain are needed. Several experimental studies show that CT-optimal touch can reduce acute pain. However, little is known about the effect of CT-optimal touch on chronic pain. The aim of the current study is to investigate whether CT-optimal touch can reduce the chronic pain experience in Parkinson patients. In this intervention study, 17 Parkinson patients underwent three conditions; no touch, CT-optimal touch and CT non-optimal touch with a duration of one week each. During each touch week, participants received touch from their partners twice a day for 15 minutes. Results show that both types of touch ameliorate the chronic pain experience. Furthermore, it appears that it is slightly more beneficial to apply CT-optimal touch also because it is perceived as more pleasant. Therefore, we argue that CT-optimal touch might be used when immediate pain relief is needed. Importantly, this study shows that CT-optimal touch can reduce chronic pain in Parkinson's Disease and can be administered by a partner which makes it feasible to implement CT-optimal touch as daily routine.

To promote psychological literacy (PL) in our bachelor psychology teaching, over recent years we have implemented various modifications to our curriculum at the Utrecht University psychology bachelor program, with a focus on the societal application of psychology knowledge. To support psychology programs around the world in integrating PL in their curriculum, knowledge about experiences may offer valuable suggestions for future initiatives. We therefore aim to share our experiences in implementing PL-related courses in our curriculum. We systematically explored teachers’ and students’ views and experiences, using course evaluations and questionnaires. Results showed that both teachers and students value PL as a learning objective for psychology teaching. However, they were often unaware of these learning objectives (students) or felt not enough attention was being paid to them (teachers). Teachers encountered several obstacles while integrating PL in their teaching, relating to aspects such as a lack of an explicit focus on these objectives, and felt ability. Teachers offer valuable suggestions related to being explicit about definition and goals, implementing learning trajectories, and training teachers. We discuss the main practical considerations and highlight issues of motivation and assessment that may guide future research in this area.

Affective touch is gentle slow stroking of the skin, which can reduce experimentally induced pain. Our participant, suffering from Parkinson's Disease and chronic pain, received 1 week of non-affective touch and 1 week of affective touch as part of a larger study. Interestingly, after 2 days of receiving affective touch, the participant started to feel less pain. After 7 days, the burning painful sensations fully disappeared. This suggest that affective touch may reduce chronic pain in clinical populations.

Signal Detection Theory (SDT) is rarely used in higher education, yet has much potential in informing decision-making. In this methodological paper, we describe the potential of SDT for different higher education contexts and demonstrate its practical application. Both the commonly used regression analyses and SDT analyses provide information on the accuracy of a predictor, and thus which instrument(s) to use. SDT analyses, in addition, provide information on the effects of setting specific cut-off scores on outcomes of interest. SDT provides the sensitivity and specificity information for the chosen instrument(s) at specific cut-off scores (criteria in SDT). This allows for evidence-informed, deliberate choice of cut-off scores to steer toward desired outcomes. Depending on how undesirable false positives and false negatives are considered in a specific situation, a lower or higher cut-off score can be deemed adequate. Using SDT analyses in our example, we demonstrate how to use the results to optimize “real-life” student selection. However, selection is only one of many decision-making practices where SDT is applicable and valuable. We outline some of the areas within higher education decision-making and quality assurance, where SDT can be applied to answer specific questions and optimize decision-making.