Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, USA.
Center for the Tactile Internet, Dresden University of Technology, Germany.
Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2024 Jan;159:106419. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2023.106419. Epub 2023 Oct 13.
Pleasant touch facilitates social interactions, affiliative behavior and emotional bonding, contributing to positive infant and child development. Oxytocin is presumed to play an important role in mediating these effects of pleasant touch on brain, body and behavior. However, little is known about the role the oxytocin system plays in pleasant touch during infancy. This study examined the hypothesis that genetic variability in the oxytocin system is linked to individual differences in infants' cuddliness operationalized as parent-reported behaviors indexing an infant's motivation to seek out and enjoy caregiver touch. Our results (N = 82) show that a polymorphism in CD38 (rs3796863), previously linked with increased release of oxytocin in adults, was associated with higher reported rates of cuddliness. In contrast, infants with CD38 genotype previously linked to autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and reduced release of oxytocin in adults, was associated with lower rates of cuddliness. These findings support the hypothesis that, from early in human ontogeny, genetic variation in the oxytocin system is systematically linked to individual differences in the reported motivation to seek out, and the enjoyment of receiving, pleasant caregiver touch. This provides novel insights into the neurohormonal processes involved in pleasant touch.
愉快的触摸促进社交互动、亲和行为和情感联系，有助于婴儿和儿童的积极发展。催产素被认为在调节愉快触摸对大脑、身体和行为的这些影响方面发挥着重要作用。然而，人们对催产素系统在婴儿期愉快触摸中的作用知之甚少。本研究检验了这样一个假设，即催产素系统的遗传变异性与婴儿的 cuddliness 个体差异有关，cuddliness 被操作化为父母报告的行为，这些行为反映了婴儿寻求和享受照顾者触摸的动机。我们的结果（N=82）表明，CD38（rs3796863）的一种多态性与成年人中催产素释放增加有关，与 cuddliness 的报告率较高有关。相比之下，与自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）相关的 CD38 基因型（与成年人中催产素释放减少相关）的婴儿 cuddliness 报告率较低。这些发现支持了这样一种假设，即从人类个体发生的早期开始，催产素系统的遗传变异与寻求和享受愉快的照顾者触摸的报告动机的个体差异系统相关。这为涉及愉快触摸的神经激素过程提供了新的见解。
