Maternal touch and its associations with neural processing of tactile stimulation during the first year of life: an fNIRS study

• Grant number: 24/08831-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: November 05, 2024
• End date: May 04, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Psychology - Human Development Psychology
• Principal Investigator: Ana Alexandra Caldas Osório
• Grantee: Lívia Branco Campos
• Supervisor: Sarah Lloyd-Fox
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde (CCBS). Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie (UPM). Instituto Presbiteriano Mackenzie. São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of Cambridge, England
• Associated to the scholarship: 23/04392-2 - Maternal touch and infant neural activation to touch: relationship with emotion regulation during the first year of life, BP.DR

Abstract

The functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) technique is frequently used in research on human development. However, important gaps are still found regarding sample loss, reproducibility of the results related to data analysis procedure, and areas of development studied. Thus, this project primarily aims compare 10-monthold infants' cortical activation to social touch when they believe to be touched by their mother versus a non-familiar woman. It also aims to: 1) Develop and apply an NIRS data analysis script for data collected among 10 months-old infants in a study about social touch during the first year of life; 2) Describe the maternal tactile behaviors at 6 and 10 months of infant's age and analyze possible differences on that behaviors comparing both moments;3) Analyze the predictive role of the quality of maternal touch regarding the variation in infant neuro activation to social touch when they believe to be touched by their mother versus a non-familiar woman. For this, data previously collected from 55 infants and their mothers using fNIRS will be used. The infants and their mothers will be evaluated longitudinally in three moments, at 6 months, when maternal touch behaviors will be accessed; and at 10 months, when infants' neural responses will be evaluated. For the NIRS data analysis and script elaboration the software MATLAB with HOMER2 toll will be used. For the maternal tactile behaviors, a coding system developed by the PhD student and the supervisor with collaboration of a partner researcher at Coimbra University will be used.