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The role of affective touch in modulating emotion processing among preschool children

Letizia Della Longa1, Laura Carnevali1, Teresa Farroni1

  • 1Department of Developmental Psychology and Socialization, University of Padova, 35131 Padova, Italy.

Journal of Experimental Child Psychology
|June 19, 2023
PubMed

Insights

Affective touch enhances children's ability to recognize negative emotions and speeds up positive emotion recognition. This highlights the importance of tactile experiences for socioemotional development in early childhood.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Neuroscience
  • Social Cognition

Background:

  • Emotional expression recognition is vital for social interaction and develops in childhood.
  • Multisensory environments suggest touch plays a role in linking sensory input with internal affective states.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if affective touch aids in recognizing emotional expressions in preschool children.
  • To understand the role of tactile stimulation in early socioemotional development.

Main Methods:

  • Preschool children (3–6 years old) participated in the study (N=121).
  • Children underwent tactile stimulation followed by an emotion-matching task.

Main Results:

  • Affective touch was found to foster the recognition of negative emotions.
  • Tactile stimulation increased the speed of associating positive emotions.
  • Results underscore the significance of tactile experiences for socioemotional understanding.

Conclusions:

  • Affective touch plays a crucial role in developing children's emotional recognition abilities.
  • Findings suggest potential interventions to support emotional recognition and social functioning in children.

Keywords:
Affective touchDevelopmentEmotion recognitionPreschool children

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