The body comes first. Embodied reparation and the co-creation of infant bodily-self

To touch or to be touched? comparing appraisal of vicarious execution and reception of interpersonal touch

Unmyelinated C-Tactile (CT) fibres are activated by caress-like touch, eliciting a pleasant feeling that decreases for static and faster stroking. Previous studies documented this effect also for vicarious touch, hypothesising simulation mechanisms driving the perception and appreciation of observed interpersonal touch. Notably, less is known about appreciation of vicarious execution of touch, that is as referred to the one giving gentle touch. To address this issue, 53 healthy participants were asked to view and rate a series of videoclips displaying an individual being touched by another on hairy (i.e., hand dorsum) or glabrous (i.e., palm) skin sites, with touch being delivered at CT-optimal (5 cm/s) or non-CT optimal velocities (0 cm/s or 30 cm/s). Following the observation of each clip, participants were asked to rate self-referred desirability and model-referred pleasantness of vicarious touch for both executer (toucher-referred) and receiver (touchee-referred). Consistent with the CT fibres properties, for both self-referred desirability and model-referred pleasantness judgements of vicarious touch execution and reception, participants provided higher ratings for vicarious touch delivered at CT-optimal than other velocities, and when observed CT-optimal touch was delivered to the hand-dorsum compared to the palm. However, higher ratings were attributed to vicarious reception compared to execution of CT-optimal touch. Notably, individual differences in interoceptive trusting and attitude to interpersonal touch were positively correlated with, respectively, toucher- and touchee-related overall appraisal ratings of touch. These findings suggest that the appreciation of both toucher- and touchee-referred vicarious touch is specifically attuned to CT-optimal touch, even though they might rely on different neurocognitive mechanisms to understand affective information conveyed by interpersonal tactile interactions.

Gaze Orienting in the Social World: An Exploration of the Role Played by Caregiving Vocal and Tactile Behaviors in Infants with Visual Impairment and in Sighted Controls

Infant attention is a cognitive function that underlines sensory-motor integration processes at the interface between the baby and the surrounding physical and socio-relational environment, mainly with the caregivers. The investigation of the role of non-visual inputs (i.e., vocal and tactile) provided by the caregivers in shaping infants' attention in the context of visual impairment is relevant from both a theoretical and clinical point of view. This study investigated the social attention (i.e., gaze orientation) skills in a group of visually impaired (VI) and age-matched sighted controls (SCs) between 9 and 12 months of age. Moreover, the role of VI severity and maternal vocalizations and touch in shaping the social attention were investigated. Overall, 45 infants and their mothers participated in a video-recorded 4 min interaction procedure, including a play and a still-face episode. The infants' gaze orientation (i.e., mother-directed, object-directed, or unfocused) and the types of maternal vocalizations and touch (i.e., socio-cognitive, affective) were micro-analytically coded. Maternal vocalizations and touch were found to influence gaze orientation differently in VI infants compared SCs. Moreover, the group comparisons during the play episode showed that controls were predominantly oriented to the mothers, while VI infants were less socially oriented. Visual impairment severity did not emerge as linked with social attention. These findings contribute to our understanding of socio-cognitive developmental trajectories in VI infants and highlight the need for tailored interventions to promote optimal outcomes for VI populations.

Synchrony perception across senses: A systematic review of temporal binding window changes from infancy to adolescence in typical and atypical development

Sensory integration is increasingly acknowledged as being crucial for the development of cognitive and social abilities. However, its developmental trajectory is still little understood. This systematic review delves into the topic by investigating the literature about the developmental changes from infancy through adolescence of the Temporal Binding Window (TBW) - the epoch of time within which sensory inputs are perceived as simultaneous and therefore integrated. Following comprehensive searches across PubMed, Elsevier, and PsycInfo databases, only experimental, behavioral, English-language, peer-reviewed studies on multisensory temporal processing in 0-17-year-olds have been included. Non-behavioral, non-multisensory, and non-human studies have been excluded as those that did not directly focus on the TBW. The selection process was independently performed by two Authors. The 39 selected studies involved 2859 participants in total. Findings indicate a predisposition towards cross-modal asynchrony sensitivity and a composite, still unclear, developmental trajectory, with atypical development associated to increased asynchrony tolerance. These results highlight the need for consistent and thorough research into TBW development to inform potential interventions.

Stroking in early mother-infant exchanges: The role of maternal tactile biography and interoceptive sensibility

Caress-like is a crucial component of caregiving and a key factor in mother-infant interactions. Mother's experience of touch during her own childhood (i.e., tactile biography) has been found to be related to maternal actual use of caress-like touch (i.e., stroking) during mother-infant exchanges. Evidence also suggests that maternal interoceptive sensibility (i.e., self-perceived sensitivity to inner-body sensations) might be related to sensitive caregiving abilities. However, further empirical investigation is needed to understand to what extent tactile biography and interoceptive sensibility have an impact on mothers' stroking when interacting with their infants. Using an online survey, this cross-sectional study explored the potential association between maternal tactile biography, interoceptive sensibility and use of touch for interaction with their own infants in a group of 377 Italian mothers (mean age = 33.29; SD = 4.79). We tested and compared a series of multivariate linear mediation models using maternal tactile biography as predictor, maternal use of affective touch as outcome variable and Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA) subscale scores as mediators. We found that, if a mother had positive touch experiences in her own childhood, she may be more likely to use touch in a positive and nurturing way with her own infant (i.e., stroking). Furthermore, mothers' interoceptive sensibility in the form of attention regulation, self-regulation and body listening mediates the association between their past experiences of positive touch and their use of caress-like touch in mother-infant exchanges. This study highlights that maternal tactile biography is directly associated with mothers' use of caress-like touch and indirectly linked to it through the mediating role of interoceptive sensibility.

Skin-to-Skin Care and Spontaneous Touch by Fathers in Full-Term Infants: A Systematic Review

A series of studies have shown that mothers' early tactile behaviors have positive effects, both on full-term and preterm infants, and on mothers alike. Regarding fathers, research has focused mostly on paternal skin-to-skin care with preterm infants and has overlooked the tactile behavior effects with full-term newborns on infants' outcomes and on fathers themselves. The current systematic review considered the evidence regarding paternal tactile behaviors with full-term infants, including skin-to-skin care (SSC) and spontaneous touch (ST), during parent-infant interactions, and differentiated biophysiological, behavioral and psychological variables both in fathers and in infants. We also compared fathers' and mothers' tactile behaviors for potential differences. The few available studies suggest that paternal touch-SSC and ST-can have positive effects on fathers and infants alike. They also show that, despite some intrinsic differences, paternal touch is as pleasant as maternal touch. However, given the paucity of studies on the topic, we discuss why this field of research should be further explored.

Cardiac interoception in infants: Behavioral and neurophysiological measures in various emotional and self-related contexts

Interoception, the perception of internal bodily signals, is fundamental to our sense of self. Even though theoretical accounts suggest an important role for interoception in the development of the self, empirical investigations are limited, particularly in infancy. Previous studies used preferential-looking paradigms to assess the detection of sensorimotor and multisensory contingencies in infancy, usually related to proprioception and touch. So far, only one recent study reported that infants discriminated between audiovisual stimuli presented synchronously or asynchronously with their heartbeat. This discrimination was related to the amplitude of the infant's heartbeat evoked potentials (HEP), a neural correlate of interoception. In the current study, we measured looking preferences between synchronous and asynchronous visuocardiac (bimodal), and audiovisuocardiac (trimodal) stimuli as well as the HEP in conditions of different emotional contexts and with different degrees of self-relatedness in a mirror-like setup. While the infants preferred trimodal to bimodal stimuli, we did not observe the predicted differences between synchronous and asynchronous stimulation. Furthermore, the HEP was not modulated by emotional context or self-relatedness. These findings do not support previously published results and highlight the need for further studies on the early development of interoception in relation to the development of the self.

Associations of maternal postpartum depressive and anxiety symptoms with 4-month infant and mother self- and interactive contingency of gaze, affect, and touch

Maternal depression and anxiety are associated with infant and mother self- and interactive difficulties. Although maternal depression and anxiety usually co-occur, studies taking this comorbidity into account are few. Despite some literature, we lack a detailed understanding of how maternal depressive and anxiety symptoms may be associated with patterns of mother-infant interaction. We examined associations of maternal postpartum depressive and anxiety symptoms with infant and mother self- and interactive patterns by conducting multi-level time-series models in a sample of 56 Turkish mothers and their 4-month infants. Time-series models assessed the temporal dynamics of interaction via infant and mother self- and interactive contingency. Videotaped face-to-face interaction was coded on a 1s time base for infant and mother gaze and facial affect, infant vocal affect, and mother touch. Results indicated that mothers with high depressive symptoms were vulnerable to infants looking away, reacting with negative touch; their infants remained affectively midrange, metaphorically distancing themselves from mothers' affect. Mothers with high anxiety symptoms were vulnerable to infants becoming facially dampened and mothers reacted with negative facial affect. Altered infant and mother self-contingency patterns were largely opposite for maternal depressive and anxiety symptoms. These patterns describe foundational processes by which maternal postpartum mood is transmitted to the infant and which may affect infant development.

The osteopath-parent-child triad in osteopathic care in the first 2 years of life: a qualitative study

Background

Enactivism and active inference are two important concepts in the field of osteopathy. While enactivism emphasizes the role of the body and the environment in shaping our experiences and understanding of the world, active inference emphasizes the role of action and perception in shaping our experiences and understanding of the world. Together, these frameworks provide a unique perspective on the practice of osteopathy, and how it can be used to facilitate positive change in patients. Since the neonatal period is a crucial time for development, osteopaths should aim to create a therapeutic relationship. Arguably, through participatory sense-making, osteopaths can help the baby build a generative model (with positive priors) to deal with stress and needs throughout their life.

Aim

Since the literature considers that interactions with the environment, which enact the patients' experiences, depending on contextual factors and communication between patient and caregiver, this research explored whether there is a correspondence between the indications in the literature and clinical practice in the management of the mother/parent-child dyad during osteopathic care on children aged 0 to 2 years old.

Methods

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of nine osteopaths with experience in the field of pediatrics. Interviews were transcribed verbatim, and constructivist grounded theory was used to conceptualize, collect and analyze data. Codes and categories were actively constructed through an interpretive/constructionist paradigm.

Results

The core category was the idea of the pediatric osteopath as a support for the family, not only for the child. Four additional categories were identified: (1) Preparing a safe environment for both children and parents, (2) Communication, (3) Attachment and synchrony, and (4) Synchronization.

Conclusion

Through participatory sense-making, osteopaths manage contextual factors to establish an effective therapeutic alliance through the osteopath-parent-child triad to facilitate the construction of the child's internal generative model to promote healthy development. The therapeutic encounter is considered an encounter between embodied subjects, occurring within a field of affordances (ecological niche) that allows the interlocutors to actively participate in creating new meanings through interpersonal synchronization. Participatory sense-making and the establishment of a therapeutic alliance through the osteopath-parent-child triad are crucial to promote healthy development in the child.

Body as First Teacher: The Role of Rhythmic Visceral Dynamics in Early Cognitive Development

Embodied cognition-the idea that mental states and processes should be understood in relation to one's bodily constitution and interactions with the world-remains a controversial topic within cognitive science. Recently, however, increasing interest in predictive processing theories among proponents and critics of embodiment alike has raised hopes of a reconciliation. This article sets out to appraise the unificatory potential of predictive processing, focusing in particular on embodied formulations of active inference. Our analysis suggests that most active-inference accounts invoke weak, potentially trivial conceptions of embodiment; those making stronger claims do so independently of the theoretical commitments of the active-inference framework. We argue that a more compelling version of embodied active inference can be motivated by adopting a diachronic perspective on the way rhythmic physiological activity shapes neural development in utero. According to this visceral afferent training hypothesis, early-emerging physiological processes are essential not only for supporting the biophysical development of neural structures but also for configuring the cognitive architecture those structures entail. Focusing in particular on the cardiovascular system, we propose three candidate mechanisms through which visceral afferent training might operate: (a) activity-dependent neuronal development, (b) periodic signal modeling, and (c) oscillatory network coordination.

Therapeutic touch and therapeutic alliance in pediatric care and neonatology: An active inference framework

Therapeutic affective touch has been recognized as essential for survival, nurturing supportive interpersonal interactions, accelerating recovery-including reducing hospitalisations, and promoting overall health and building robust therapeutic alliances. Through the lens of active inference, we present an integrative model, combining therapeutic touch and communication, to achieve biobehavioural synchrony. This model speaks to how the brain develops a generative model required for recovery, developing successful therapeutic alliances, and regulating allostasis within paediatric manual therapy. We apply active inference to explain the neurophysiological and behavioural mechanisms that underwrite the development and maintenance of synchronous relationships through touch. This paper foregrounds the crucial role of therapeutic touch in developing a solid therapeutic alliance, the clinical effectiveness of paediatric care, and triadic synchrony between health care practitioner, caregiver, and infant in a variety of clinical situations. We start by providing a brief overview of the significance and clinical role of touch in the development of social interactions in infants; facilitating a positive therapeutic alliance and restoring homeostasis through touch to allow a more efficient process of allostatic regulation. Moreover, we explain the role of CT tactile afferents in achieving positive clinical outcomes and updating prior beliefs. We then discuss how touch is implemented in treatment sessions to promote cooperative interactions in the clinic and facilitate theory of mind. This underwrites biobehavioural synchrony, epistemic trust, empathy, and the resolution of uncertainty. The ensuing framework is underpinned by a critical application of the active inference framework to the fields of pediatrics and neonatology.

Maternal and infant touching behaviours during perturbed interactions: Associations with maternal depressive symptomatology and infant crying

Touch is an important means through which mothers and infants co-regulate during periods of stress or perturbation. The present study examined the synchrony of maternal and infant touching behaviours among 41 mother-infant dyads, some of whom were deemed at-risk due to maternal depressive symptomatology. Mothers and their 4-month-old infants participated in the Still-Face (maternal emotional unavailability; SF) and Separation (maternal physical unavailability; SP) procedures. Infant crying was examined across procedures and investigated as a brief period of perturbation. Results revealed that mothers and infants displayed a positive pattern of tactile synchrony (coordinated, analogous changes in touch) during infant crying episodes. However, dyads in the high depression group displayed significantly less affectionate touch during instances of infant crying. Furthermore, more depressive symptoms were associated with less maternal and infant touch and lower rates of infant crying. This group of dyads may be less expressive via touch, be less affected by disruptions in their interactions, have impaired regulatory abilities, or simply require minimal amounts of touch to mutually regulate following social stressors and during brief perturbation periods. These findings enrich our limited knowledge about the dynamic interplay of maternal and infant touch and inform preventative intervention programs for at-risk groups.

Envisioning translational hyperscanning: how applied neuroscience might improve family-centered care

From the very beginning of their life, human beings are immersed in a social and interactive environment that contributes to shaping their social and cognitive development under typical and at-risk conditions. In order to understand human development in its bidirectional relationship with the social environment, we need to develop a 'complexity-sensitive' approach in neuroscience. Recent advances have started to do so with the application of hyperscanning techniques which involve recording adult and child neural activity simultaneously and highlighting the presence of similar patterns of brain activity in the dyad. Numerous studies focused on typically developing children have been published in recent years with the application of this technique to different fields of developmental research. However, hyperscanning techniques could also be extremely beneficial and effective in studying development in atypical and clinical populations. Such application, namely translational hyperscanning, should foster the transition toward a two-brain translational neuroscience. In this paper, we envision how the application of hyperscanning to atypical and clinical child populations can inform family-centered care for children and their parents.

Affective Touch and Regulation of Stress Responses

Much has been documented on the association between stress and health. Both direct and indirect pathways have been identified and explored extensively, helping us understand trajectories from healthy individuals to reductions in well-being, and development of preclinical and disease states. Some of these pathways are well established within the field; physiology, affect regulation, and social relationships. The purpose of this review is to push beyond what is known separately about these pathways and provide a means to integrate them using one common mechanism. We propose that social touch, specifically affective touch, may be the missing active ingredient fundamental to our understanding of how close relationships contribute to stress and health. We provide empirical evidence detailing how affective touch is fundamental to the development of our stress systems, critical to the development of attachment bonds and subsequent social relationships across the life course. We will also explore how we can use this in applied contexts and incorporate it into existing interventions.

Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment Regulates Autonomic Markers in Preterm Infants: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) has been found to be effective in the context of premature infants. Nonetheless, no studies have investigated the immediate effects of OMT on heart rate variability (HRV). As altered HRV reflects poor or worsening newborn’s clinical conditions and neurodevelopment, should OMT improve HRV fluctuations, it could become a relevant intervention for improving the care of preterm newborns. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate whether OMT could affect HRV. The study was carried out at the Buzzi Hospital in Milan. From the neonatal intensive care unit, ninety-six preterm infants (41 males) were enrolled and were randomly assigned to one of two treatment groups: OMT or Static Touch. The infants were born at 33.5 weeks (±4.3) and had a mean birth weight of 2067 g (±929). The study had as primary outcome the change in the beat-to-beat variance in heart rate measured through root mean square of consecutive RR interval differences (RMSSD); other metrics were used as secondary and exploratory analyses. Despite the lack of statistically significant results regarding the primary outcomeand some study limitations, compared to static touch, OMT seemed to favor a parasympathetic modulation and improved HRV, which could reflect improvement in newborn’s clinical conditions and development.

Mothers' interoceptive sensibility mediates affective interaction between mother and infant

Interoceptive sensibility, which denotes the self-perceived sensitivity to inner-body sensations, has been associated with the emotional experiences and inferences of others’ emotional states. Focusing on the role of interoceptive sensibility in the emotional states and psychological well-being of mothers during caregiving, this study explores how physiological arousal and interoceptive sensibility mediate the association between mother–infant interaction and maternal well-being using an experience sampling method. Infant-directed-singing (IDS) with social touch was used to facilitate mother–infant interaction. Pairs of 2–8-month-old infants and their mothers participated. Mothers in an IDS group (N = 25) and a no-IDS group (N = 26) recorded their and the infant’s daily feelings and physiological states using a smartphone application for one month. All participants, including the control group (N = 78) who neither performed IDS nor used the application, answered the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness questionnaire before and after the recording period. Results indicated that IDS improved mother–infant interactions and positive feelings, enhancing maternal physiological arousal. Increased interoceptive sensibility enhanced infants’ positive feelings in the IDS group, whereas in the no-IDS group, it weakened mother’s positive feelings, suggesting that maternal interoceptive sensibility mediated the effects of IDS on mother and infant well-being.

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.

Neural Representation of the Parent-Child Attachment from Infancy to Adulthood

Attachment theory is built on the assumption of consistency; the mother–infant bond is thought to underpin the life-long representations individuals construct of attachment relationships. Still, consistency in the individual’s neural response to attachment-related stimuli representing his or her entire relational history has not been investigated. Mothers and children were followed across two decades and videotaped in infancy (3–6 months), childhood (9–12 years) and young adulthood (18–24 years). In adulthood, participants underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while exposed to videos of own mother–child interactions (Self) vs unfamiliar interactions (Other). Self-stimuli elicited greater activations across preregistered nodes of the human attachment network, including thalamus-to-brainstem, amygdala, hippocampus, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), insula and temporal cortex. Critically, self-stimuli were age-invariant in most regions of interest despite large variability in social behavior, and Bayesian analysis showed strong evidence for lack of age-related differences. Psycho–physiological interaction analysis indicated that self-stimuli elicited tighter connectivity between ACC and anterior insula, consolidating an interface associating information from exteroceptive and interceptive sources to sustain attachment representations. Child social engagement behavior was individually stable from infancy to adulthood and linked with greater ACC and insula response to self-stimuli. Findings demonstrate overlap in circuits sustaining parental and child attachment and accord with perspectives on the continuity of attachment across human development.

Proximity and touch are associated with neural but not physiological synchrony in naturalistic mother-infant interactions

Caregiver touch plays a vital role in infants' growth and development, but its role as a communicative signal in human parent-infant interactions is surprisingly poorly understood. Here, we assessed whether touch and proximity in caregiver-infant dyads are related to neural and physiological synchrony. We simultaneously measured brain activity and respiratory sinus arrhythmia of 4-6-month-old infants and their mothers (N=69 dyads) in distal and proximal joint watching conditions as well as in an interactive face-to-face condition. Neural synchrony was higher during the proximal than during the distal joint watching conditions, and even higher during the face-to-face interaction. Physiological synchrony was highest during the face-to-face interaction and lower in both joint watching conditions, irrespective of proximity. Maternal affectionate touch during the face-to-face interaction was positively related to neural but not physiological synchrony. This is the first evidence that touch mediates mutual attunement of brain activities, but not cardio-respiratory rhythms in caregiver-infant dyads during naturalistic interactions. Our results also suggest that neural synchrony serves as a biological pathway of how social touch plays into infant development and how this pathway could be utilized to support infant learning and social bonding.

Positive breastfeeding experiences and facilitators in mothers of preterm and low birthweight infants: a meta-ethnographic review

Background

Most qualitative research on breastfeeding the preterm or low-birthweight (LBW) infant has focused on negative insights; there are no comprehensive insights into how, when and why mothers experience positive breastfeeding experiences. We aimed to address this knowledge gap by exploring what characterizes and facilitates a positive breastfeeding experience in mothers of preterm and/or LBW infants.

Methods

A systematic review using meta-ethnographic methods was conducted. Search strategies involved a comprehensive search strategy on six bibliographic databases, citation tracking and reference checking. The analysis involved a reciprocal level of translation and a line of argument synthesis.

Results

Searches identified 1774 hits and 17 articles from 14 studies were included, representing the views of 697 mothers. A positive breastfeeding experience was identified as being ‘attuned’. Three themes and eight sub-themes were developed to describe what characterizes attuned breastfeeding. ‘Trusting the body and what it can do’, concerned how attuned breastfeeding was facilitated through understanding the bodily responses and capacity and feeling comfortable with holding the infant and to breastfeed. ‘Being emotionally present – in the here and now’ described the importance of feeling relaxed and reassured. ‘Experiencing mutual positive responses’, illuminated how attunement was related to feelings of mutuality - when the mother recognises the infant’s cues, responds to these signals and receives a positive response from the infant. The key factors to facilitate attuned breastfeeding were opportunities for prolonged close physical contact with the infant, positive relationships with and support from staff and peers, and being facilitated to breastfeed when the infant showed feeding cues.

Conclusions

This study provides new insights into what characterizes a positive breastfeeding experience and how staff can facilitate and enable mothers to achieve attuned breastfeeding. Improvements in units’ design, such as for rooming-in and having prolonged skin-to-skin contact, and care provided by knowledgeable, supportive and encouraging staff and peers, are crucial. The mother’s physical and emotional states and the infant’s behavioural responses and physiological signals should guide the process towards positive breastfeeding practices.

Caregiver and Young Child Biological Attunement In Distress Contexts: A Systematic Review and Narrative Synthesis

The objective of the current study was to systematically review the literature on caregiver-child biological attunement within distress contexts during the first three years of life. A total of 9932 unique abstracts were identified through Medline, Embase, PsycINFO, CINAHL, and Scopus databases. Thirty-six studies provided data from caregivers and their infants or toddlers within a distress paradigm, used biological indicators of distress, and assessed the relations between caregiver and child biological indicators. Findings were synthesized based on biological indicators, type of analysis, and measurement epochs pre- and post-distress. Most articles examined cortisol. Associations between caregiver and child cortisol indicators were moderate to large, though findings varied depending on the analysis used and measurement epochs examined. Many of the findings examining relations between mother and child cardiac, sAA, and EEG indicators were weak or inconsistent, likely due to the limitations of methodological approaches used to capture the complexity of the caregiver-child attunement process. Gaps in the literature and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Application of the Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale to Evaluate the Neurobehavior of Preterm Neonates

Background: The neonatal behavioral assessment scale (NBAS) was primarily developed to aid in the assessment of full-term neonates. The aim of this study was to detect if the NBAS was also valuable in the assessment of preterm neonates. Materials and Methods: We assessed 112 infants at a neonatal unit using the NBAS, 4th edition. The inclusion criteria included an oxygen saturation level between 88–95% and a heartrate of 100–205 beats per minute. Infant neurobehavior was assessed using the NBAS. Results: For full-term and preterm neonates, we observed that the NBAS enabled us to assess both groups of infants and gave relevant information pertaining to them. We found a significant correlation between the average week of gestation and response to touch, sensory input, peak of excitement, cost of attention, hand-to-mouth, and quality of alertness. Conclusions: The NBAS is a valuable scale for evaluating the neurobehavior of preterm neonates. The week of gestation at birth affects certain aspects of neurobehavior, such as response to sensory input, putting hand to mouth, peak of excitement, and cost of attention. The NBAS as an individually structured assessment may help in planning for early rehabilitation and intervention for this vulnerable population.

The Paternal Brain in Action: A Review of Human Fathers' fMRI Brain Responses to Child-Related Stimuli

As fathers are increasingly involved in childcare, understanding the neurological underpinnings of fathering has become a key research issue in developmental psychobiology research. This systematic review specifically focused on (1) highlighting methodological issues of paternal brain research using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and (2) summarizing findings related to paternal brain responses to auditory and visual infant stimuli. Sixteen papers were included from 157 retrieved records. Sample characteristics (e.g., fathers’ and infant’s age, number of kids, and time spent caregiving), neuroimaging information (e.g., technique, task, stimuli, and processing), and main findings were synthesized by two independent authors. Most of the reviewed works used different stimuli and tasks to test fathers’ responses to child visual and/or auditory stimuli. Pre-processing and first-level analyses were performed with standard pipelines. Greater heterogeneity emerged in second-level analyses. Three main cortical networks (mentalization, embodied simulation, and emotion regulation) and a subcortical network emerged linked with fathers’ responses to infants’ stimuli, but additional areas (e.g., frontal gyrus, posterior cingulate cortex) were also responsive to infants’ visual or auditory stimuli. This review suggests that a distributed and complex brain network may be involved in facilitating fathers’ sensitivity and responses to infant-related stimuli. Nonetheless, specific methodological caveats, the exploratory nature of large parts of the literature to date, and the presence of heterogeneous tasks and measures also demonstrate that systematic improvements in study designs are needed to further advance the field.

Studying caregiver-infant co-regulation in dynamic, diverse cultural contexts: A call to action

Caregivers and infants co-regulate their physiology, emotions, and behavior in a way that is dynamically responsive to each other and the contexts in which they live. This paper is an introduction and call to action for researchers interested in understanding how to study caregiver-infant interactions in the home and diverse cultural contexts, including marginalized communities. We argue that research will be more valid, culturally relevant, and tapped-in to the daily lives of caregivers and infants if there is partnership and collaboration with the caregivers in the design of the questions, data collection and analysis, and distribution of the findings. We recommend dynamically assessing emotions, behaviors, and physiology using repeated sampling methods including ecological momentary assessments (EMA), salivary bioscience, and actigraphy. We aim to extend current practices of studying caregiver-infant co-regulation by measuring fluctuations of daily life and considering sociocultural factors that shape naturalistic caregiver-infant interactions. Using methodological advancements and community-based participatory research approaches can enable developmental scientists to measure life as it is actually lived.

A Guide to Parent-Child fNIRS Hyperscanning Data Processing and Analysis

The use of functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) hyperscanning during naturalistic interactions in parent–child dyads has substantially advanced our understanding of the neurobiological underpinnings of human social interaction. However, despite the rise of developmental hyperscanning studies over the last years, analysis procedures have not yet been standardized and are often individually developed by each research team. This article offers a guide on parent–child fNIRS hyperscanning data analysis in MATLAB and R. We provide an example dataset of 20 dyads assessed during a cooperative versus individual problem-solving task, with brain signal acquired using 16 channels located over bilateral frontal and temporo-parietal areas. We use MATLAB toolboxes Homer2 and SPM for fNIRS to preprocess the acquired brain signal data and suggest a standardized procedure. Next, we calculate interpersonal neural synchrony between dyads using Wavelet Transform Coherence (WTC) and illustrate how to run a random pair analysis to control for spurious correlations in the signal. We then use RStudio to estimate Generalized Linear Mixed Models (GLMM) to account for the bounded distribution of coherence values for interpersonal neural synchrony analyses. With this guide, we hope to offer advice for future parent–child fNIRS hyperscanning investigations and to enhance replicability within the field.

Togetherness, beyond the eyes: A systematic review on the interaction between visually impaired children and their parents

BACKGROUND

Parent-child interaction is essential to promote adaptive emotional, cognitive, and social development. The majority of previous research on parent-child interaction is largely dependent on face-to-face exchanges that require the interactive partners to visually recognize reciprocal communicative bids. Therefore, previous findings in the field can only partially apply to the early interactive patterns occurring between visually impaired infants and their parents. The present study was aimed to systematically review the available evidence on parent-child interaction in the context of developmental visual impairment.

METHODS

Fourteen papers were finally selected after literature search on PubMed and Scopus. Data synthesis was focused on three core topics: visually impaired children's contribution to the interaction, parental caregiving behaviors with visually impaired children, and the association between parents' behaviors and the developmental outcomes of children with visual impairment.

RESULTS

Visually impaired children may exhibit reduced reactivity to maternal stimuli and less-than-optimal levels of interactive initiations in social exchanges. Parents of children with visual impairment may use more descriptive communicative acts and greater directiveness compared to mothers of sighted counterparts. Specific caregiving behaviors (e.g., responsiveness and goal setting) of parents of children with visual impairment may significantly support language and socio-emotional development as well as sensorimotor integration.

DISCUSSION

Children with visual impairment may be less responsive and they may produce less clear communicative bids while interacting with their parents. Their parents may face specific challenges while engaging with them and they may become increasingly directive and intrusive. Nonetheless, even in the presence of visual impairment, the quality of parental caregiving behaviors appears to play a potential preventive role in the face of children's socio-emotional and cognitive outcomes. These results suggest that early interventions focused on parent-child interactions are especially needed in this population.

The development of body representations: an associative learning account

Representing one's own body is of fundamental importance to interact with our environment, yet little is known about how body representations develop. One account suggests that the ability to represent one's own body is present from birth and supports infants' ability to detect similarities between their own and others' bodies. However, in recent years evidence has been accumulating for alternative accounts that emphasize the role of multisensory experience obtained through acting and interacting with our own body in the development of body representations. Here, we review this evidence, and propose an integrative account that suggests that through experience, infants form multisensory associations that facilitate the development of body representations. This associative account provides a coherent explanation for previous developmental findings, and generates novel hypotheses for future research.

Mother-Infant Interaction Kinect Analysis (MIIKA): An automatic kinematic-based methodology for the investigation of interpersonal distance during early exchanges

Interpersonal distance is a core aspect of mother-child interaction. While conventional measures based on human coders do not fully capture the dynamics of this feature, computational methods provide automatic measures which can detect even small changes and more accurate estimates both spatially and temporally. Using RGB-D sensors (Microsoft Kinect V2), the present study describes a setup to automatically examine interpersonal distance during mother-child interactions, termed Mother-Infant Interaction Kinect Analysis (MIIKA). First, the laboratory setting and the data extraction method are described. By using an ad-hoc algorithm for kinematic data extraction, MIIKA returns three metrics: barycenter position (distance and velocity of approach and separation), movements (number of small, medium and large approaches and separations) and contributions (proportional contributions of mother and child to approaches and separations). Secondly, preliminary MIIKA metrics are described for a non-clinical mother-child dyad as an exemplification of the protocol. As interpersonal distance can be affected by contingent situations, we detected mother-infant full skeleton during three interactional contexts characterized by different kinds of dyadic exchanges: a free play session, a task-oriented activity and an emotionally arousing condition. Results highlighted similarities and differences between the three interactional contexts. MIIKA appears to be a promising setup to automatically examine interpersonal distance in early mother-child interactions.

Under the skin: Exploring 2-month-olds' thermal reactions in different social interactions with mother and stranger

Physiological adaptations to external stressors can reveal socio-cognitive health in infancy. With the use of thermal imaging and behavioural analyses, the current study examined the arousal markers accompanying infants' interactions with a familiar and an unfamiliar person. To address the current research question, the mother and a complete stranger interacted with 2 to 3 month-old infants (N= 10, 2 boys)in three different conditions: Neutral, Play, and Compliment. Behavioral analyses showed that overall gaze was longer to the Stranger compared to the Mother independent of condition. Physiological findings showed that skin temperature was significantly higher with the stranger independent of condition. The regions of the face that passed the significance threshold included the maxillary area, the nose, and the forehead. Both behavioral and physiological findings emphasize the ability of the infant to distinguish between a familiar and an unfamiliar person. Most importantly, however thermal imaging has proven to be a promising tool in physiologically differentiating between variable social conditions in very young infants opening up a new experimental portal for identifying healthy physiological development.

The Role of Affectionate Caregiver Touch in Early Neurodevelopment and Parent-Infant Interactional Synchrony

Though rarely included in studies of parent–infant interactions, affectionate touch plays a unique and vital role in infant development. Previous studies in human and rodent models have established that early and consistent affectionate touch from a caregiver confers wide-ranging and holistic benefits for infant psychosocial and neurophysiological development. We begin with an introduction to the neurophysiological pathways for the positive effects of touch. Then, we provide a brief review of how affectionate touch tunes the development of infant somatosensory, autonomic (stress regulation), and immune systems. Affective touch also plays a foundational role in the establishment of social affiliative bonds and early psychosocial behavior. These touch-related bonding effects are known to be mediated primarily by the oxytocin system, but touch also activates mesocorticolimbic dopamine and endogenous opioid systems which aid the development of social cognitive processes such as social learning and reward processing. We conclude by proposing a unique role for affectionate touch as an essential pathway to establishing and maintaining parent-infant interactional synchrony at behavioral and neural levels. The limitations of the current understanding of affectionate touch in infant development point to fruitful avenues for future research.

Childhood Adversity and Affective Touch Perception: A Comparison of United Kingdom Care Leavers and Non-care Leavers

In the United Kingdom, the most common reasons for a child to come under the care of social services are neglect and abuse. Such early childhood adversity is a risk factor for social-isolation and poor mental health in adulthood. Touch is a key channel for nurturing interactions, and previous studies have shown links between early somatosensory input, experience dependent neural plasticity, and later life emotional functioning. The aim of the present study was to test the relationship between childhood neglect/abuse and later life experiences, attitudes, and hedonic ratings of affective touch. Here, affective touch is defined as low force, dynamic touch which C-Tactile afferents (CTs) respond optimally to. We hypothesized that a childhood lacking in early nurturing tactile stimulation would be associated with reduced sensitivity to socially relevant affective touch in adulthood. To test this, 19 care leavers (average 9.32 ± 3.70 years in foster care) and 32 non-care leavers were recruited through opportunity sampling (mean age = 21.25 ± 1.74 years). Participants completed a range of psychophysical somatosensory tests. First, they rated the pleasantness of CT-optimal (3 cm/s) and non-CT-optimal (0.3 and 30 cm/s) stroking touch applied to their forearm, both robotically and by an experimenter. They also made vicarious ratings of the anticipated pleasantness of social tactile interactions depicted in a series of videos. Finally, they filled in the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) and the Touch Experiences and Attitudes Questionnaire (TEAQ). As expected, care leavers reported significantly higher levels of childhood trauma than the control group. They also reported significantly lower levels of positive childhood touch compared to non-care leavers, but their attitudes and experiences of current intimate and affiliative touch did not differ. Across all psychophysical tests, care leavers showed specific reduction in sensitivity to the affective value of CT targeted 3 cm/s touch. The results of this study support the hypothesis that a lack of nurturing touch in early developmental periods leads to blunted sensitivity to the specific social value of affective touch. Future research should investigate the neural and physiological mechanisms underlying the observed effect.

Premature birth affects visual body representation and body schema in preterm children

Research has demonstrated that from the first six months of life infants show early sensitivity to body visual features and rely on sensorimotor and proprioceptive inputs in forming representations of their own bodies. Premature birth interferes with typical exposition to visual, sensorimotor and proprioceptive stimulation, thus presumably affecting the development of body representations. Here, we tested this hypothesis by comparing the performance of preterm children with that of age-matched full-termchildren in two tasks assessing, respectively, visual body processing and body schema. We found that preterm children had spared configural processing but altered holistic processing of others' bodies and showed a general difficulty in expressing visuospatial judgements on body stimuli. Furthermore, body-centered visuospatial abilities were associated with specific impairments in operating object-based visuospatial transformations. The findings of this study indicate that preterm birth might interfere with the development of body representations at the levels of body visual perceptual processing and of body schema, with effects even on visuo-spatial abilities for non-bodily stimuli. Body-centered rehabilitative interventions should be proposed to preterm children in order to enhance visuo-spatial abilities and higher-level cognitive functions.

Childhood schizotypal features vs. high-functioning autism spectrum disorder: Developmental overlaps and phenomenological differences

Although autism spectrum disorder and schizophrenia have allegedly different onset timelines (e.g. in early years of life vs adolescence/early adulthood), there is nonetheless a diagnostic grey-zone along developmental stages, in which overlapping clinical features related to social impairment and oddity could impact on the differential diagnosis between childhood schizotypal features and high-functioning autism spectrum disorder. A phenomenological perspective may be helpful for the purpose of timely differential diagnosis also in developmental years.

Revisiting the roots of attachment: A review of the biological and psychological effects of maternal skin-to-skin contact and carrying of full-term infants

During the early period of hypothesis building and empirical testing of attachment theory, a major emphasis was placed on mother-infant physical contact. In spite of this, mother-infant contact has received scant attention amongst attachment and child development researchers in the past decades. Here, a brief theoretical framework for mother-infant contact is presented, drawing on animal studies as well as human studies of preterm infants and neonates. Salient mechanisms may include an extended sensitive period during early infancy, requiring specific somatosensory stimuli for bio-behavioral homeorhesis; oxytocinergic and epigenetic pathways; kinesthetic stimuli and face-to-face proximity allowing for increased social interaction. Studies of extended human mother-full-term infant physical contact have demonstrated positive effects in multiple domains. For infants, these include sleep organization, temperature and heart rate regulation, behavioral response, crying/colic, socio-emotional development, attachment quality, speech development opportunities and mother-child interactions. For mothers, studies demonstrate improved depressive symptomatology, physiological stress regulation, contingent responsivity, breastfeeding and mother-child interactions. Parent-infant attachment quality has gained prominence as a trauma-resilience factor as well as a predictor of adult physical health. The potential role of mother-infant contact as an attachment promoting intervention as well as future research subjects are discussed. Current evidence supports the original attachment research that early maternal touch provision may influence infant socio-emotional development and attachment quality, with positive implications for mother-child relationship functioning.