Synchrony of Caresses: Does Affective Touch Help Infants to Detect Body-Related Visual–Tactile Synchrony?
Autor: | Teresa Farroni, Maria Laura Filippetti, Letizia Della Longa, Danica Dragovic |
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Jazyk: | angličtina |
Rok vydání: | 2020 |
Předmět: |
affective touch
lcsh:BF1-990 Sensory system Body awareness 050105 experimental psychology Tactile stimuli 03 medical and health sciences 0302 clinical medicine body awareness Psychology 0501 psychology and cognitive sciences Valence (psychology) infancy General Psychology Original Research Communication business.industry 05 social sciences Body perception multisensory lcsh:Psychology visual preference Interoception business 030217 neurology & neurosurgery |
Zdroj: | Frontiers in Psychology Frontiers in Psychology, Vol 10 (2020) |
ISSN: | 1664-1078 |
Popis: | 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. |
Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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