Touching the social robot PARO reduces pain perception and salivary oxytocin levels
Touching the social robot PARO reduces pain perception and salivary oxytocin levels
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DOI：
10.1038/s41598-020-66982-y
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发表时间：
2020-06-17
影响因子：
4.6
通讯作者：
Levy-Tzedek, Shelly
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Geva, Nirit;Uzefovsky, Florina;Levy-Tzedek, Shelly
人与人之间的社交接触可以改善情绪并减轻疼痛。迄今为止，还没有研究测试人机情感接触对健康年轻人实验诱发的疼痛等级、情绪和催产素水平的影响。在这里，我们评估了 83 名年轻人触摸 PARO 机器人对疼痛感知、情绪和唾液催产素水平的影响。我们测量了他们感知的疼痛、幸福状态和唾液催产素。对于 PARO 组的 63 名参与者，在三种情况下评估疼痛：基线、触摸（触摸 PARO）和无触摸（存在 PARO）。对照组（20 名参与者）接受了相同的测量，但从未遇到过 PARO。仅与基线相比，PARO 组的疼痛评分和催产素水平有所下降，而幸福评分则有所上升。与无接触条件相比，接触条件下疼痛等级下降幅度更大。这些影响与参与者对与 PARO 互动的积极看法相关。与 PARO 沟通感知能力较高的参与者在触摸 PARO 时体验到更大的痛觉减退效果。我们证明，人机社交接触可以有效降低成人的疼痛程度、改善情绪，而且令人惊讶的是，还可以降低唾液催产素水平。
Human-human social touch improves mood and alleviates pain. No studies have so far tested the effect of human-robot emotional touch on experimentally induced pain ratings, on mood and on oxytocin levels in healthy young adults. Here, we assessed the effect of touching the robot PARO on pain perception, on mood and on salivary oxytocin levels, in 83 young adults. We measured their perceived pain, happiness state, and salivary oxytocin. For the 63 participants in the PARO group, pain was assessed in three conditions: Baseline, Touch (touching PARO) and No-Touch (PARO present). The control group (20 participants) underwent the same measurements without ever encountering PARO. There was a decrease in pain ratings and in oxytocin levels and an increase in happiness ratings compared to baseline only in the PARO group. The Touch condition yielded a larger decrease in pain ratings compared to No-Touch. These effects correlated with the participants' positive perceptions of the interaction with PARO. Participants with higher perceived ability to communicate with PARO experienced a greater hypoalgesic effect when touching PARO. We show that human-robot social touch is effective in reducing pain ratings, improving mood and - surprisingly - reducing salivary oxytocin levels in adults.