Anne Margarette S. Maallo

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About

Anne Margarette S. Maallo is a leading researcher in affective neuroscience, with a primary focus on the neural mechanisms of social touch and its role in pain modulation. Her major contributions center on understanding how C-tactile (CT) afferents—unmyelinated low-threshold mechanoreceptors—process the hedonic and emotional aspects of touch. In her highly cited 2023 fMRI study (23 citations), she demonstrated that CT-targeted, robot-delivered brush stroking significantly reduces experimental mechanical pain, revealing key cortical mechanisms underlying this analgesic effect. This work bridges basic somatosensory science with potential clinical applications for pain management. Maallo has also advanced methodological innovation in the field, as highlighted in her 2022 paper (14 citations), which critically examines the limitations of artificial, laboratory-based touch stimuli. She advocates for developing ecologically valid, naturalistic human-to-human touch paradigms to better capture real-world neural processing. Her research is notable for combining rigorous neuroimaging with translational insights, making her a rising voice in affective touch and pain research.