Intimacy and the loss of physical touch in an age of social distancing.

For many people, it can be hard to remember the last embrace with another living, breathing human. Since social distancing became normalised people are craving physical touch with their nearest and dearest and looking for ways to recreate physical human connection. Interaction designer Joanna Montgomery and neuroscientist Francis McGlone join Tara to talk about "skin hunger" and human-centred innovations that aim to keep us closer, even when we’re far apart.

Francis McGlone is the head of the Somatosensory and Affective Neuroscience Group at the School of Natural Sciences and Psychology, Liverpool JM University. His primary area of academic research is characterising the role of afferent c-fibres in humans, investigating their role in pain, itch and the functional and affective properties of a novel class of c-fibres hypothesised to code for the pleasure of intimate touch. Techniques used in this research span single-unit recordings with microneurography, psychophysical measurements, functional neuroimaging, behavioural measures, and psychopharmacological approaches to investigate the role of the brain transmitter serotonin in affiliative and social touch.

Joanna Montgomery is a London-based Scottish interaction designer and creator of Pillow Talk, the award-winning product to help connect families that exhibited as part of Science Gallery Dublin’s 2018 exhibition INTIMACY. With a background in human-computer interaction, Joanna believes in a future that still cares about being human and helps her clients understand and design human-centric, technology-enabled products and services. Joanna is also a competitive weightlifter and held the title of Britain’s Strongest Woman (2015-2017).

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