Avatar's ethnicity and gender modulate behavioral and physiological reactions to vicarious touch in immersive virtual reality

The subjective experience of being touched can be drastically affected not only by bottom-up variables (e.g. stimulus intensity) but also by top-down variables (e.g. toucher’s social characteristics1). Nevertheless, the neuroscientific investigation regarding the role of these higher-order factors is limited by ethical and practical constraints. Using Immersive Virtual Reality (IVR) we explored the subjective and physiological reactivity of healthy participants who wore a virtual body and observed an avatar caressing different part of it showing that it was possible to induce vicarious feelings of touch2. Here we expand previous knowledge by investigating the possible influence of gender and ethnicity of the touching avatar in modulating the experience of vicarious touch. We used IVR to substitute the participants’ real body with a virtual one. We collected behavioral (ratings about touch appropriateness, pleasantness, disgust, erogeneity) and physiological (skin conductance responses, heart rate) responses while Caucasian heterosexual men observed touches delivered on different parts of their virtual body by male or female Caucasian and African avatars. Bayesian parameter estimation showed that touches delivered by the female avatar were rated as more appropriate, pleasant and erogenous, and less disgusting compared to the male ones. These effects were further modulated by the touching avatar’s ethnicity: touches delivered on intimate areas were judged as more appropriate and more erogenous when performed by the female ingroup compared to the female outgroup avatar, and they were rated as less disgusting when delivered by the ingroup male compared to the outgroup male avatar. At the physiological level, the outgroup male touches elicited higher reactivity compared to the ingroup male touches, in particular when delivered on the intimate and social areas. No effect on the heart rate signals was found. Taken together, our results confirm that heterosexual men tend to avoid same-gender touch2; this effect seems to be enhanced by the toucher’s outgroup membership, suggesting a multi-layered stigmatization process. Future neuroimaging studies could shed light on the role of cognitive, affective and somatosensory components in shaping the outgroup and same-gender touch avoidance. Moreover, under the intergroup contact hypothesis, future studies could investigate whether positive virtual tactile interactions with outgroup avatars could reduce negative attitudes toward them, so that virtual touch may act as an important precursor to real intergroup touch. References 1. Seger, C. R., Smith, E. R., Percy, E. J., & Conrey, F. R. (2014). Reach out and reduce prejudice: The impact of interpersonal touch on intergroup liking. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 36(1), 51-58. 2. Fusaro, M., Lisi, M. P., Tieri, G., & Aglioti, S. M. (2021). Heterosexual, gay, and lesbian people’s reactivity to virtual caresses on their embodied avatars’ taboo zones. Scientific reports, 11(1), 1-12