Vicarious Perception of Touch in ASD: The Role of Empathy and Touch Experiences

Abstract

C-Tactile (CT) targeted affective touch plays a central role in social cognition and emotional development. In autism, atypical sensory processing, particularly in response to tactile stimulation, has frequently been reported. Autistic individuals have been shown to exhibit altered perception and reduced hedonic evaluation of affective touch, as well as increased defensive responses. Despite these differences in direct touch, the perception of vicarious social touch or its connection to social and emotional constructs remains poorly explored. Vicarious touch is theoretically relevant because it recruits social-cognitive and affective mechanisms beyond primary somatosensory processing; however, most prior studies have focused on neural correlates in neurotypical adults, with limited behavioral investigation and scarce evidence in autistic populations. The present study evaluated how autistic and non-autistic adolescents and young adults perceive vicarious social touch. Participants observed videos depicting touch delivered at three different speeds (static, CT-optimal, and fast) and across five skin locations (back, upper arm, ventral forearm, dorsal forearm, and palm). Participants provided subjective ratings of how pleasant they believed the touch was for the person in the video (numeric rating scale (NRS) Other/pleasantness) and how much they would like to be touched in the same way (NRS Self/willingness). We also examined associations with empathy and touch-related attitudes. Results showed no group differences in the pleasantness and willingness ratings. However, a significant three-way interaction between speed, skin location, and group emerged for the NRS Self. Across both groups, ratings indicated that speed and skin location modulated ratings, with CT-optimal stroking and touch in the back rated as most pleasant. For NRS Self, male participants reported higher pleasantness than females, across groups. Pleasantness and willingness ratings were positively correlated with attitudes toward touch from friends and family and toward self-care, but not with other touch-related attitudes or empathy scores, across groups. Finally, autistic individuals reported significantly lower empathy and less positive touch-related experiences than non-autistic participants. Overall, these findings suggest that global vicarious touch perception may be relatively preserved in autistic adolescents and young adults, while individual differences in empathy and touch-related experiences may contribute to broader variability in social touch processing.