The self-regulatory affective touch: a speculative framework for the development of executive functioning

Positive and negative touch differentially modulate metacognitive memory judgements for emotional stimuli

Touch plays a crucial role in providing humans with information from the external environment and can be perceived by humans as positively or negatively valenced. It is well documented that touch can differentially influence social functions, but very little is known about how touch can modulate (meta)cognition. Utilizing a within-subject design, participants were exposed to (a) positive, (b) negative, and (c) no touch, alongside encoding of emotionally valenced (positive and negative) images. After a 20-minute delay, participants completed a Yes/No recognition task to investigate how touch influenced memory-related decision components (e.g. criterion, confidence). Results showed that, compared to the control condition, both positive and negative touch were associated with overall lower confidence ratings, a less liberal response bias and slower response times. Interestingly, for correct recognitions, only negative touch (vs. no touch) led to inappropriately lower confidence and slower response times while both confidence and response time remained unaltered in positive touch. Our findings provide the first evidence that positive and negative touch differentially interact with metacognitive memory-related decisions. Altered metacognitive judgements after being touched could have significant consequences in applied settings, such as situations of eyewitness testimony.

Early life stress, kangaroo care, parenting behavior and secure attachment predict executive functioning in 2 year olds born preterm

Self-regulation and executive functioning are known key predictors of future cognitive development and mental health. We examined the effect of early life neonatal stress, maternal perinatal stress, kangaroo care, maternal parenting behavior and secure child attachment on executive function at 2 years corrected age (CA) in children born preterm (i.e. < 34 weeks of gestation and/or < 1500 g birth weight). Neonatal child characteristics were recorded at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). We examined self-reported perinatal maternal stress during NICU stay, maternal emotional availability at 4 months CA, and child attachment security at 14 months CA. The executive function battery at 2 years CA was completed by 97 children. Low birth weight, a high number of skin breaking procedures and high level of maternal stress predicted lower executive function scores. Kangaroo care, non-intrusive maternal parenting behavior and secure attachment were associated with higher executive function scores. Even after controlling for background factors, modifiable factors such as neonatal child and mother stress, kangaroo care, parenting style, and child attachment style uniquely predict later executive functioning development, indicating that preventive interventions need to integrate multiple aspects of neuroprotective care, including supporting the child-parent bond, both at the NICU and beyond.

Survival, Attachment, and Healing: An Evolutionary Lens on Interventions for Trauma-Related Dissociation

Purpose

Dissociation is a necessary part of our threat response system, common to all animal species, normally temporarily activated under conditions of extreme or inescapable threat. Pathological dissociation, however, continues to occur after the initial threat has passed, in response to reminders or inaccessibility of safety and security. Present across the spectrum of psychiatric diagnoses, recurrent dissociative symptoms are linked to severe trauma exposure, insecure attachment, treatment non-response, and maladaptive coping behaviors such as substance use, suicidality, and self-harm. However, empirical studies testing treatments specific to dissociative processes remain scarce. This narrative review summarizes existing studies and provides theoretical, neurobiological, and evolutionary perspectives on dissociative processes and treatments for pathological dissociation.

Methods

A systematic search of five databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, APA PsycINFO, CINAHL plus, Scopus) was conducted on April 13, 2023. Peer-reviewed clinical studies with adult participants, assessing intervention effects on dissociative symptoms, were included. Results were thematically analyzed and summarized.

Results

Sixty-nine studies were identified, mainly focused on posttraumatic stress disorder, trauma-exposed populations, and borderline personality disorder. Psychotherapy was studied in 72.5% of studies; other interventions included medications and neurostimulation. The majority reported positive outcomes, despite the heterogeneous spectrum of interventions. However, treatment of dissociative symptoms was the primary objective in only a minority.

Conclusion

Pathological dissociation is a complex phenomenon involving brain and body systems designed for perceiving and responding to severe threats, requiring an individualized approach. A literature is emerging regarding potentially evidence-based treatments to help those impacted by recurrent dissociative symptoms. When contextualized within a neurobiological and evolutionary perspective, these treatments can be understood as facilitating an internal and/or relational sense of safety, resulting in symptom reduction. Further studies are needed to explore effective treatments for dissociative symptoms.

A systematic review and multivariate meta-analysis of the physical and mental health benefits of touch interventions

Receiving touch is of critical importance, as many studies have shown that touch promotes mental and physical well-being. We conducted a pre-registered (PROSPERO: CRD42022304281) systematic review and multilevel meta-analysis encompassing 137 studies in the meta-analysis and 75 additional studies in the systematic review (n = 12,966 individuals, search via Google Scholar, PubMed and Web of Science until 1 October 2022) to identify critical factors moderating touch intervention efficacy. Included studies always featured a touch versus no touch control intervention with diverse health outcomes as dependent variables. Risk of bias was assessed via small study, randomization, sequencing, performance and attrition bias. Touch interventions were especially effective in regulating cortisol levels (Hedges' g = 0.78, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.24 to 1.31) and increasing weight (0.65, 95% CI 0.37 to 0.94) in newborns as well as in reducing pain (0.69, 95% CI 0.48 to 0.89), feelings of depression (0.59, 95% CI 0.40 to 0.78) and state (0.64, 95% CI 0.44 to 0.84) or trait anxiety (0.59, 95% CI 0.40 to 0.77) for adults. Comparing touch interventions involving objects or robots resulted in similar physical (0.56, 95% CI 0.24 to 0.88 versus 0.51, 95% CI 0.38 to 0.64) but lower mental health benefits (0.34, 95% CI 0.19 to 0.49 versus 0.58, 95% CI 0.43 to 0.73). Adult clinical cohorts profited more strongly in mental health domains compared with healthy individuals (0.63, 95% CI 0.46 to 0.80 versus 0.37, 95% CI 0.20 to 0.55). We found no difference in health benefits in adults when comparing touch applied by a familiar person or a health care professional (0.51, 95% CI 0.29 to 0.73 versus 0.50, 95% CI 0.38 to 0.61), but parental touch was more beneficial in newborns (0.69, 95% CI 0.50 to 0.88 versus 0.39, 95% CI 0.18 to 0.61). Small but significant small study bias and the impossibility to blind experimental conditions need to be considered. Leveraging factors that influence touch intervention efficacy will help maximize the benefits of future interventions and focus research in this field.

Propensity to trust shapes perceptions of comforting touch between trustworthy human and robot partners

Touching a friend to comfort or be comforted is a common prosocial behaviour, firmly based in mutual trust. Emphasising the interactive nature of trust and touch, we suggest that vulnerability, reciprocity and individual differences shape trust and perceptions of touch. We further investigate whether these elements also apply to companion robots. Participants (n = 152) were exposed to four comics depicting human-human or human-robot exchanges. Across conditions, one character was sad, the other initiated touch to comfort them, and the touchee reciprocated the touch. Participants first rated trustworthiness of a certain character (human or robot in a vulnerable or comforting role), then evaluated the two touch phases (initiation and reciprocity) in terms of interaction realism, touch appropriateness and pleasantness, affective state (valence and arousal) attributed to the characters. Results support an interactive account of trust and touch, with humans being equally trustworthy when comforting or showing vulnerability, and reciprocity of touch buffering sadness. Although these phenomena seem unique to humans, propensity to trust technology reduces the gap between how humans and robots are perceived. Two distinct trust systems emerge: one for human interactions and another for social technologies, both necessitating trust as a fundamental prerequisite for meaningful physical contact.

The effect of kangaroo mother care or skin-to-skin contact on infant vital signs: A systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

It has been reported that kangaroo mother care/skin-to-skin contact immediately after birth facilitates the newborn's physiological and psychological adaptation to extrauterine life.

OBJECTIVE

To examine the effect of kangaroo mother care/skin-to-skin contact on infants' body temperature, oxygen saturation, respiratory rate and heart rate.

DESIGN

Systematic review and meta-analysis.

METHODS

PubMed, ScienceDirect, SpringerLink, Wiley Online Library and Taylor & Francis Online were searched for the period 1 January 2015 to 30 November 2021 for studies published in the English language. The methodological quality of articles was assessed using the modified Jadad scale and the Newcastle-Ottawa scale. Effect size calculations were made using the fixed effects and random effects models.

FINDINGS

This meta-analysis included 13 studies, with a total of 891 infants. Kangaroo mother care/skin-to-skin contact was effective for maintaining infants' body temperature (p = 0.000). Infants' heart rate decreased (p = 0.015) and oxygen saturation was higher (p = 0.040) following kangaroo mother care/skin-to-skin contact. Kangaroo mother care/skin-to-skin contact did not affect infants' respiratory rate (p = 0.896), but infants' respiratory rate decreased after kangaroo mother care/skin-to-skin contact (p = 0.047).

KEY CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE

Kangaroo mother care/skin-to-skin contact is effective for improving the vital signs of newborns. Kangaroo mother care/skin-to-skin contact is recommended for all neonates, and standardization of this approach would be beneficial.

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

Recognizing emotional expressions is a prerequisite for understanding others' feelings and intentions, a key component of social interactions that develops throughout childhood. In multisensory social environments, touch may be crucial for emotion processing, linking external sensory information with internal affective states. The current study investigated whether affective touch facilitates recognition of emotional expressions throughout childhood. Preschool children (N = 121 3- to 6-year-olds) were presented with different tactile stimulations followed by an emotion-matching task. Results revealed that affective touch fosters the recognition of negative emotions and increases the speed of association of positive emotions, highlighting the centrality of tactile experiences for socioemotional understanding. The current research opens new perspectives on how to support emotional recognition with potential consequences for the development of social functioning.

Developmental Cascades Link Maternal-Newborn Skin-to-Skin Contact with Young Adults' Psychological Symptoms, Oxytocin, and Immunity; Charting Mechanisms of Developmental Continuity from Birth to Adulthood

Premature birth disrupts the continuity of maternal-newborn bodily contact, which underpins the development of physiological and behavioral support systems. Utilizing a unique cohort of mother-preterm dyads who received skin-to-skin contact (Kangaroo Care, KC) versus controls, and following them to adulthood, we examined how a touch-based neonatal intervention impacts three adult outcomes; anxiety/depressive symptoms, oxytocin, and secretory immunoglobulin A (s-IgA), a biomarker of the immune system. Consistent with dynamic systems' theory, we found that links from KC to adult outcomes were indirect, mediated by its effects on maternal mood, child attention and executive functions, and mother-child synchrony across development. These improvements shaped adult outcomes via three mechanisms; (a) "sensitive periods", where the infancy improvement directly links with an outcome, for instance, infant attention linked with higher oxytocin and lower s-IgA; (b) "step-by-step continuity", where the infancy improvement triggers iterative changes across development, gradually shaping an outcome; for instance, mother-infant synchrony was stable across development and predicted lower anxiety/depressive symptoms; and (c) "inclusive mutual-influences", describing cross-time associations between maternal, child, and dyadic factors; for instance, from maternal mood to child executive functions and back. Findings highlight the long-term impact of a birth intervention across development and provide valuable insights on the mechanisms of "developmental continuity", among the key topics in developmental research.

Gentle as a mother's touch: C-tactile touch promotes autonomic regulation in preterm infants

Preterm infants are challenged to adapt to an extrauterine milieu, while their interoceptive system and autonomic regulation capacity is still immature. Caressing parental touch is known to foster parasympathetic regulation in infants by stimulating C-tactile (CT) afferents and in preterm infants, slow stroking stimulation also leads to a heart rate decrease. The particular impact of maternal stroking has not yet been investigated and factors influencing the maturation of the CT system in preterm infants remain unclear. We therefore analysed 53 standardized events in which preterm infants (24 to 36 weeks gestational age at birth) were stroked by their mothers. Video analysis revealed that mothers use CT optimal velocities to stroke their preterm child. Analysis of pulse oximetric data showed no effect of stroking on infantile blood oxygenation, but a significant decrease of the heart rate. Compared to term-born children, this decrease was delayed by about two minutes. Furthermore, our data suggested that more immature preterm infants benefited less from stroking than more mature ones. We conclude that maternal stroking touch targets CT afferents in preterm infants and that the preterm CT system is not yet mature.

The brain-body disconnect: A somatic sensory basis for trauma-related disorders

Although the manifestation of trauma in the body is a phenomenon well-endorsed by clinicians and traumatized individuals, the neurobiological underpinnings of this manifestation remain unclear. The notion of somatic sensory processing, which encompasses vestibular and somatosensory processing and relates to the sensory systems concerned with how the physical body exists in and relates to physical space, is introduced as a major contributor to overall regulatory, social-emotional, and self-referential functioning. From a phylogenetically and ontogenetically informed perspective, trauma-related symptomology is conceptualized to be grounded in brainstem-level somatic sensory processing dysfunction and its cascading influences on physiological arousal modulation, affect regulation, and higher-order capacities. Lastly, we introduce a novel hierarchical model bridging somatic sensory processes with limbic and neocortical mechanisms regulating an individual's emotional experience and sense of a relational, agentive self. This model provides a working framework for the neurobiologically informed assessment and treatment of trauma-related conditions from a somatic sensory processing perspective.

Understanding sex differences in affective touch: Sensory pleasantness, social comfort, and precursive experiences

Although previous research revealed sex differences in affective touch, the implicated processes and the manner in which men and women differ have been left uncertain. Here we addressed this issue in two studies examining sensory pleasure, interpersonal comfort, and touch motivators. Study 1 comprised a series of lab-based experiments in which a robot stroked 214 participants (half female) at five different velocities modulating the activity of C-tactile afferents thought to support tactile pleasantness. Average pleasantness ratings followed velocity with the typical inverted u-shape similarly in both sexes. In Study 2, 260 participants (half female) completed an online survey. Here, women were more likely than men to express touch comfort with less familiar or unknown individuals, had a greater preference for touch with other women, and felt more comfortable giving and receiving touch to the forearm. Additionally, when describing how their own experiences might motivate others to touch them affectively, women produced more negative descriptions than men. Together, these results show that, while the sexes compare in a touch's sensory pleasantness, they differ in their preceding affective experiences and how they value touch at a higher-order social level. This agrees with extant research on negative affect and stress and suggests that affective touch may be a more relevant coping mechanism for women than for men.

Interpersonal Affective Touch in a Virtual World: Feeling the Social Presence of Others to Overcome Loneliness

Humans are by nature social beings tuned to communicate and interact from the very beginning of their lives. The sense of touch represents the most direct and intimate channel of communication and a powerful means of connection between the self and the others. In our digital age, the development and diffusion of internet-based technologies and virtual environments offer new opportunities of communication overcoming physical distance. It however, happens that social interactions are often mediated, and the tactile aspects of communication are overlooked, thus diminishing the feeling of social presence, which may contribute to an increased sense of social disconnection and loneliness. The current manuscript aims to review the extant literature about the socio-affective dimension of touch and current advancements in interactive virtual environments in order to provide a new perspective on multisensory virtual communication. Specifically, we suggest that interpersonal affective touch might critically impact virtual social exchanges, promoting a sense of co-presence and social connection between individuals, possibly overcoming feelings of sensory loneliness. This topic of investigation will be of crucial relevance from a theoretical perspective aiming to understand how we integrate multisensory signals in processing and making sense of interpersonal exchanges, this is important in both typical and atypical populations. Moreover, it will pave the way to promising applications by exploring the possibility to use technical innovations to communicate more interactively in the case of people who suffer from social isolation and disconnection from others.

Multimedia Interventions for Neurodiversity: Leveraging Insights from Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience to Build an Innovative Practice

Multimedia technologies and virtual reality offer unique possibilities to manipulate sensory, motor, interpersonal, and cognitive processes contributing to atypical developmental trajectories, thus holding an explosive potential to design innovative and engaging interventions. However, there has been little progress in developing interventions that go beyond the patient’s diagnosis or the fascination of technology and rather spring from a deep understanding of the specific neuropsychological processes to be nurtured in individuals. This perspective paper outlines how recent insights from developmental cognitive neuroscience can be leveraged to promote children’s multidimensional development and highlight future directions and challenges for innovating both research and clinical practice. Finally, we focus on some practical examples of multimedia and virtual reality activities we have designed to stimulate bodily-self experiences, which are crucial for building up a coherent sense of self and lay the foundation for interacting with the external world. Atypical bodily self is an early marker of heterogeneous neurodevelopmental conditions (such as autism spectrum disorders) and seems to be under-targeted in research and clinical approaches.