Maternal sensitivity and infant neural response to touch: an fNIRS study

Autor(es)

Mateus, Vera ^[1] ; Osorio, Ana ^[1] ; Miguel, Helga O. ^{[2, 3]} ; Cruz, Sara ^[4] ; Sampaio, Adriana ^[2]

Afiliação do(s) autor(es)

^[1] Univ Prebiteriana Mackenzie, Ctr Biol & Hlth Sci, Dev Disorders Grad Program, Rua Consolacao 930, BR-01302000 Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[2] Univ Minho, Sch Psychol, Psychol Neurosci Lab, CIPsi, P-4710057 Braga - Portugal

^[3] NICHHD, NIH, Bethesda, MD 20892 - USA

^[4] Lusiada Univ North, Psychol Posit Dev Res Ctr, P-4369006 Porto - Portugal

• Tipo de documento: Artigo Científico
• Fonte: SOCIAL COGNITIVE AND AFFECTIVE NEUROSCIENCE; v. 16, n. 12, p. 1256-1263, DEC 2022.
• Citações Web of Science: 0

Resumo

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 (HbO(2)) 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 HbO(2) response for discriminative touch over the temporal region. Additionally, infants of less sensitive mothers tended to present a higher response in HbO(2) 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. (AU)

• Processo FAPESP: 14/50282-5 - Positive psychology and neuroscience: translational research to promote well-being and emotional regulation
• Beneficiário: Emma Otta
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Programa Centros de Pesquisa em Engenharia
• Processo FAPESP: 18/09398-0 - Trajetórias de processamento neuronal de ações motoras no primeiro ano de vida e sua relação com o desenvolvimento da cognição social
• Beneficiário: Vera Lúcia Esteves Mateus
• Modalidade de apoio: Bolsas no Brasil - Pós-Doutorado