Dataset Information

Tune to touch: Affective touch enhances learning of face identity in 4-month-old infants.

ABSTRACT: Touch provides more than sensory input for discrimination of what is on the skin. From early in development it has a rewarding and motivational value, which may reflect an evolutionary mechanism that promotes learning and affiliative bonding. In the present study we investigated whether affective touch helps infants tune to social signals, such as faces. Four-month-old infants were habituated to an individual face with averted gaze, which typically does not engage infants to the same extent as direct gaze does. As in a previous study, in the absence of touch, infants did not learn the identity of this face. Critically, 4-month-old infants did learn to discriminate this face when parents provided gentle stroking, but they did not when they experienced a non-social tactile stimulation. A preliminary follow-up eye-tracking study (Supplementary material) revealed no significant difference in the visual scanning of faces between touch and no-touch conditions, suggesting that affective touch may not affect the distribution of visual attention, but that it may promote more efficient learning of facial information.

SUBMITTER: Della Longa L

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6347579 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Tune to touch: Affective touch enhances learning of face identity in 4-month-old infants.

Della Longa Letizia L Gliga Teodora T Farroni Teresa T

Developmental cognitive neuroscience 20171111

Touch provides more than sensory input for discrimination of what is on the skin. From early in development it has a rewarding and motivational value, which may reflect an evolutionary mechanism that promotes learning and affiliative bonding. In the present study we investigated whether affective touch helps infants tune to social signals, such as faces. Four-month-old infants were habituated to an individual face with averted gaze, which typically does not engage infants to the same extent as d ...[more]

PMID: 29153656

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Project description:BackgroundMaternal psychopathology is associated with altered HPA axis functioning in offspring. Most studies have focused on mildly affected populations, but less is known about the effect of severe maternal psychopathology. In our explorative study we investigated in a heterogenic sample of mothers with severe and long-lasting psychiatric disorders, if a diagnosis of depression and severity of general maternal psychiatric symptomatology were associated with infant salivary cortisol reactivity to the Face-to-Face Still-Face (FFSF) paradigm at 6 months of age.MethodsA clinical sample of 36 mother-infant dyads was explored. All mothers fulfilled criteria for a severe psychiatric disorder and had psychiatric complaints for the last two consecutive years. Maternal diagnosis was established during pregnancy using a diagnostic interview and general maternal psychiatric symptom severity was established by self-report at the time of the FFSF procedure. The FFSF paradigm was used to assess infants' response to social stress at the age of 6 months. Infant saliva samples were collected at three time points: 5 min before and 15 and 30 min after the social stressor. Cortisol reactivity was operationalized as incremental Area Under the Curve (AUCi). Potential confounders were identified and adjusted for.ResultsIn regression analyses, a negative relationship was found between infant cortisol reactivity (AUCi) during the FFSF paradigm at 6 months and general maternal symptom severity at time of the FFSF paradigm (unadjusted n = 36, ß = -0.331, B = -9.758, SE 4.8, p = .048; adjusted n = 36, ß = -0.335, B = -9.868, SE 4.5, p = .039) and for diagnosis of perinatal depression at trend level (unadjusted n = 36, ß = -0.293, B = -8.640, SE 4.8, p = .083; adjusted n = 36, ß = -0.317, B = -9.347, SE 4.6, p = .052). Analyses were adjusted for gestational age.ConclusionsPreliminary results on cortisol reactivity in 6-month-old infants of mothers with severe and long-lasting psychiatric disorders show a significant reduction in the group of mothers who experienced a high level of psychiatric symptoms in the post-partum period, compared to mothers with lower levels of psychiatric symptomatology. The same trend was found for mothers with and without a diagnosis of perinatal depression. Since these infants are considered to be at increased risk for later psychopathology, our study suggests that future longitudinal studies should investigate whether reduced cortisol reactivity in babies could be a marker for any adverse outcomes, besides other possible risk factors (e.g. (epi)genetic phenomena).

Dataset Information

Tune to touch: Affective touch enhances learning of face identity in 4-month-old infants.

Publications

Tune to touch: Affective touch enhances learning of face identity in 4-month-old infants.

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