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Tactile training facilitates infants' ability to reach to targets on the body

Eszter Somogyi1,2, Mollie Hamilton1, Lisa K Chinn3

  • 1Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition Center, CNRS UMR 8002, Université Paris Cité, Paris, France.

Child Development
|January 18, 2023
PubMed

Insights

Tactile stimulation in infants enhances the development of reaching skills to body targets. Early tactile input helps babies explore sensorimotor connections, leading to improved reaching by seven months.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental psychology
  • Infant motor development
  • Sensory integration

Background:

  • Reaching to body targets is a crucial adaptive skill for infants.
  • Understanding factors that influence the development of infant reaching is important.
  • Tactile stimulation may play a role in refining sensorimotor skills.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the impact of tactile stimulation on infants' ability to reach to body targets.
  • To compare reaching development in infants receiving tactile stimulation versus a control group.

Main Methods:

  • A longitudinal study design was employed.
  • Infants (N=11) received weekly tactile stimulation on eight body locations from 4 to 8 months of age.
  • A control group (N=10) did not receive tactile stimulation.

Main Results:

  • Infants receiving tactile stimulation demonstrated a higher likelihood of successfully reaching body targets by 7 months of age compared to controls.
  • The findings suggest a facilitative effect of tactile stimulation on reaching development.

Conclusions:

  • Tactile stimulation promotes the development of reaching to the body in infants.
  • This facilitation occurs through the exploration of emerging sensorimotor correlations.

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