Department of Psychology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, USA; Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Poolesville, MD, USA; Dipartimento di Neuroscienze, Università di Parma, Parma, Italy.
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Poolesville, MD, USA; Dipartimento di Neuroscienze, Università di Parma, Parma, Italy; Winnicott Research Unit, University of Reading, Reading, UK.
Dev Cogn Neurosci. 2019 Feb;35:12-19. doi: 10.1016/j.dcn.2017.07.010. Epub 2017 Aug 18.
Touch is one of the first senses to develop and one of the earliest modalities for infant-caregiver communication. While studies have explored the benefits of infant touch in terms of physical health and growth, the effects of social touch on infant behavior are relatively unexplored. Here, we investigated the influence of neonatal handling on a variety of domains, including memory, novelty seeking, and social interest, in infant monkeys (Macaca mulatta; n=48) from 2 to 12 weeks of age. Neonates were randomly assigned to receive extra holding, with or without accompanying face-to-face interactions. Extra-handled infants, compared to standard-reared infants, exhibited less stress-related behavior and more locomotion around a novel environment, faster approach of novel objects, better working memory, and less fear towards a novel social partner. In sum, infants who received more tactile stimulation in the neonatal period subsequently demonstrated more advanced motor, social, and cognitive skills-particularly in contexts involving exploration of novelty-in the first three months of life. These data suggest that social touch may support behavioral development, offering promising possibilities for designing future early interventions, particularly for infants who are at heightened risk for social disorders.
触摸是最早发展的感觉之一，也是婴儿与照顾者进行交流的最早方式之一。虽然研究已经探讨了婴儿触摸在身体健康和生长方面的益处，但社会触摸对婴儿行为的影响还相对未知。在这里，我们研究了新生儿处理对包括记忆、寻求新奇和社交兴趣在内的各种领域的影响，研究对象为 2 至 12 周大的猕猴（Macaca mulatta；n=48）。新生儿被随机分配接受额外的抱持，抱持时可以伴有或不伴有面对面的互动。与常规饲养的婴儿相比，接受额外抱持的婴儿表现出较少的与压力相关的行为和更多的在新环境中的运动，对新物体更快的接近，更好的工作记忆，以及对新社交伙伴的较少恐惧。总的来说，在新生儿期接受更多触觉刺激的婴儿随后在生命的头三个月表现出更先进的运动、社会和认知技能，特别是在涉及探索新奇的情况下。这些数据表明，社会触摸可能支持行为发展，为未来的早期干预提供了有希望的可能性，特别是对于那些存在社交障碍风险的婴儿。
