Synchrony of Caresses: Does Affective Touch Help Infants to Detect Body-Related Visual–Tactile Synchrony?
Bodily self-awareness, that is the ability to sense and recognize our body as our own, involves the encoding and integration of a wide range of multisensory and motor signals. Infants’ abilities to detect synchrony and bind together sensory information in time and space critically contribute to the...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2020-01-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02944/full |
| _version_ | 1819124040908931072 |
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| author | Letizia Della Longa Maria Laura Filippetti Danica Dragovic Teresa Farroni |
| author_facet | Letizia Della Longa Maria Laura Filippetti Danica Dragovic Teresa Farroni |
| author_sort | Letizia Della Longa |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Bodily self-awareness, that is the ability to sense and recognize our body as our own, involves the encoding and integration of a wide range of multisensory and motor signals. Infants’ abilities to detect synchrony and bind together sensory information in time and space critically contribute to the process of gradual bodily self-awareness. In particular, early tactile experiences may have a crucial role in promoting self-other differentiation and developing bodily self-awareness. More specifically affective touch, slow and gentle touch linked to the neurophysiologically specialized system of C-tactile afferents, provides both information about the body from within (interoception) and outside (exteroception), suggesting it may be a key component contributing to the experience of bodily self-awareness. The present study aimed to investigate the role of affective touch in the formation and modulation of body perception from the earliest stages of life. Using a preferential looking task, 5-month-old infants were presented with synchronous and asynchronous visuo–tactile body-related stimuli. The socio-affective valence of the tactile stimuli was manipulated by means of the velocity [CT-optimal (slow) touch vs. CT-suboptimal (fast) touch] and the source of touch (human hand vs. brush). For the first time, we show that only infants that were stroked using a brush at slow velocity displayed a preference for the visual–tactile synchronous video, suggesting that CT-optimal touch might help infants to detect body-related visual–tactile synchrony, independently from the source of touch. Our results are in line with findings from adults and indicate that affective touch might have a critical role in the early development of bodily self-awareness. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-22T07:17:56Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-752fc1188fee43e0a03cc12b97315e2d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-22T07:17:56Z |
| publishDate | 2020-01-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-752fc1188fee43e0a03cc12b97315e2d2022-12-21T18:34:21ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782020-01-011010.3389/fpsyg.2019.02944498069Synchrony of Caresses: Does Affective Touch Help Infants to Detect Body-Related Visual–Tactile Synchrony?Letizia Della Longa0Maria Laura Filippetti1Danica Dragovic2Teresa Farroni3Department of Developmental Psychology and Socialization, University of Padua, Padua, ItalyCentre for Brain Science, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Science and Health, University of Essex, Essex, United KingdomDepartment of Pediatric Unit, Hospital of Monfalcone, Monfalcone, ItalyDepartment of Developmental Psychology and Socialization, University of Padua, Padua, ItalyBodily self-awareness, that is the ability to sense and recognize our body as our own, involves the encoding and integration of a wide range of multisensory and motor signals. Infants’ abilities to detect synchrony and bind together sensory information in time and space critically contribute to the process of gradual bodily self-awareness. In particular, early tactile experiences may have a crucial role in promoting self-other differentiation and developing bodily self-awareness. More specifically affective touch, slow and gentle touch linked to the neurophysiologically specialized system of C-tactile afferents, provides both information about the body from within (interoception) and outside (exteroception), suggesting it may be a key component contributing to the experience of bodily self-awareness. The present study aimed to investigate the role of affective touch in the formation and modulation of body perception from the earliest stages of life. Using a preferential looking task, 5-month-old infants were presented with synchronous and asynchronous visuo–tactile body-related stimuli. The socio-affective valence of the tactile stimuli was manipulated by means of the velocity [CT-optimal (slow) touch vs. CT-suboptimal (fast) touch] and the source of touch (human hand vs. brush). For the first time, we show that only infants that were stroked using a brush at slow velocity displayed a preference for the visual–tactile synchronous video, suggesting that CT-optimal touch might help infants to detect body-related visual–tactile synchrony, independently from the source of touch. Our results are in line with findings from adults and indicate that affective touch might have a critical role in the early development of bodily self-awareness.https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02944/fullbody awarenessmultisensoryaffective touchvisual preferenceinfancy |
| spellingShingle | Letizia Della Longa Maria Laura Filippetti Danica Dragovic Teresa Farroni Synchrony of Caresses: Does Affective Touch Help Infants to Detect Body-Related Visual–Tactile Synchrony? Frontiers in Psychology body awareness multisensory affective touch visual preference infancy |
| title | Synchrony of Caresses: Does Affective Touch Help Infants to Detect Body-Related Visual–Tactile Synchrony? |
| title_full | Synchrony of Caresses: Does Affective Touch Help Infants to Detect Body-Related Visual–Tactile Synchrony? |
| title_fullStr | Synchrony of Caresses: Does Affective Touch Help Infants to Detect Body-Related Visual–Tactile Synchrony? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Synchrony of Caresses: Does Affective Touch Help Infants to Detect Body-Related Visual–Tactile Synchrony? |
| title_short | Synchrony of Caresses: Does Affective Touch Help Infants to Detect Body-Related Visual–Tactile Synchrony? |
| title_sort | synchrony of caresses does affective touch help infants to detect body related visual tactile synchrony |
| topic | body awareness multisensory affective touch visual preference infancy |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02944/full |
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