Maternal sensitivity and infant neural response to touch: an fNIRS study. Issue 12 (18th June 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Mateus, Vera; Osório, Ana; Miguel, Helga O; Cruz, Sara; Sampaio, Adriana
• Is Part Of: Social cognitive and affective neuroscience. Volume 16:Issue 12(2021)
• Page Start: 1256
• Page End: 1263
• Publication Date: 2021-06-18
• Subjects: fNIRS -- maternal sensitivity -- somatosensory cortex -- temporal region -- touch processing; Neurosciences -- Periodicals; Cognitive neuroscience -- Periodicals; Neuropsychology -- Periodicals; 612.8205
• DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsab069
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1749-5016

Abstract

Abstract: The mother's attunement to her infant's emotional needs influences her use of touching behaviors during mother–infant interactions. Moreover, maternal touch appears to modulate infants' physiological responses to affective touch. However, little is known about the impact of maternal sensitivity on infants' touch processing at a brain level. This study explored the association between maternal sensitivity when infants ( N = 24) were 7 months old and their patterns of cortical activation to touch at 12 months. Brain activation was measured using functional near-infrared spectroscopy. Changes in oxy-hemoglobin (HbO2 ) and deoxy-hemoglobin (HHb) concentrations were measured in the left somatosensory cortex and right temporal cortex while infants received two types of tactile stimulation—affective and discriminative touch. Results showed that a lower maternal sensitivity was associated with a higher HbO2 response for discriminative touch over the temporal region. Additionally, infants of less sensitive mothers tended to present a higher response in HbO2 for affective touch over the somatosensory region. These findings suggest that less sensitive interactions might result in a lower exposure to maternal touch, which can be further related to infants' neural processing of touch.