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Hand or spoon? Exploring the neural basis of affective touch in 5-month-old infants

L Pirazzoli1, S Lloyd-Fox1, R Braukmann2

  • 1Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck, University of London, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HX, UK.

Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience
|August 19, 2018
PubMed

Insights

Infant brains show similar cortical activation to both human and metallic touch. This suggests that the posterior Superior Temporal Sulcus (pSTS) and Inferior Frontal Gyrus (IFG) may not yet distinguish affective touch in 5-month-olds.

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Developmental Psychology
  • Infant Brain Development

Background:

  • Affective touch activates specific cortical regions like the posterior Superior Temporal Sulcus (pSTS) and Inferior Frontal Gyrus (IFG) in adults.
  • Understanding early social-affective processing in infants is crucial for developmental neuroscience.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate whether 5-month-old infants exhibit adult-like cortical activation patterns in response to affective touch.
  • To compare infant brain responses to human touch versus non-affective touch using functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS).

Main Methods:

  • Utilized functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) to measure cortical activation in 5-month-old infants.
  • Contrasted brain responses to tactile stimulation from a human touch stroke versus a cold metallic spoon stroke.

Main Results:

  • Contrary to the hypothesis, similar patterns of cortical activation were observed in both the human touch and metallic spoon conditions.
  • No selective activation of the pSTS and IFG was found specifically for the human (affective) touch stroke in infants.

Conclusions:

  • The findings suggest that the infant pSTS and IFG may not yet possess selective responses to affective touch at 5 months of age.
  • Alternatively, additional social cues beyond tactile sensation might be necessary for infants to differentiate affective touch.

Keywords:
Affective touchIFGInfantsSTSfNIRS

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