June 23, 2013
According to columnist Lonny Cain, "touch might be impacting you more than you realize. We do have 'powers' that come with touch, important powers," he writes in the Times of Ottawa, Illinois. "This message comes from many researchers, including Matthew Hertenstein, a psychologist at DePauw University in Greencastle, Ind. His research shows that we send -- and receive -- all kinds of signals through touch. And we can decode emotions via touch alone. "
Cain, the managing editor of the newspaper, adds, "Such tidbits and more were shared in an article by Rick Chillot for Psychology Today magazine (March 2013). He interviewed Hertenstein and others on the science of touch."
You'll find the complete column at the Times' website.
In addition Psychology Today, Matt Hertenstein's research on communicating through touch was featured in the April issue of O, The Oprah Magazine. In the past, it's been the subject of a September 2010 NPR piece and an interview by ABC's Diane Sawyer, as well as an article in the New York Times. The DePauw professor is the co-editor of The Handbook of Touch: Neuroscience, Behavioral, and Health Perspectives, published by Springer.
Research by Dr. Hertenstein and his students on smiling in yearbook photos and whether subjects became divorced later in life received worldwide attention in the spring of 2009. The findings were initially published in the journal 
Motivation and Emotion. Coverage began in British media outlets, and spread to United Press International, Yahoo! and a piece which aired April 16, 2009 on NBC's Today. The research was included in the New York Times Magazine's "Ninth Annual Year in Ideas" and was cited by India Today, New Scientist and British Columbia's Province.
Visit Professor Hertenstein's Touch and Emotion Lab online by clicking here.