ArticleCerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991)2016
Frequency of Maternal Touch Predicts Resting Activity and Connectivity of the Developing Social Brain.
Article in Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991), 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 60 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
60 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Sensory-based interventions in the NICU: systematic review of effects on preterm brain development.Pediatric research · 2022Pooled it
- Is the voice an auditory face? An ALE meta-analysis comparing vocal and facial emotion processing.Social cognitive and affective neuroscience · 2018Pooled it
- Development of interoception: the critical role of maternal affective touch in early attachment.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2026Article
- It's Safe to Look: Maternal Touch Affects Infants' Fear Bias.Developmental science · 2025Article
- Maternal Interaction Relates to Neural Processing of Self-Related Multisensory Information in 5-Month-Olds.Developmental science · 2025Article
- Research Progress on Neural Processing of Hand and Forearm Tactile Sensation: A Review Based on fMRI Research.Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment · 2025Review
- The association between early regulatory problems and adult peer relationship quality is mediated by the brain's allostatic-interoceptive system.Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines · 2025Article
- Touch medicine: bridging the gap between recent insights from touch research and clinical medicine and its special significance for the treatment of affective disorders.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Review
- Role of medial prefrontal cortex and primary somatosensory cortex in self and other-directed vicarious social touch: a TMS study.Social cognitive and affective neuroscience · 2023Article
- Touch Avoidance with Close People and Strangers: Effects of Gender, Sexual Orientation, and Relationship Status.European journal of investigation in health, psychology and education · 2023Article
- Topography and relationship-specific social touching in individuals displaying body image disturbances.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Depression in the next generation is related with maternal behaviors: A cross-comparison by alternating rat's mother care.PloS one · 2023Article
- Oxytocin but not naturally occurring variation in caregiver touch associates with infant social orienting.Developmental psychobiology · 2022Article
- Normative range parenting and the developing brain: A scoping review and recommendations for future research.The European journal of neuroscience · 2022Article
- Mothers' interoceptive sensibility mediates affective interaction between mother and infant.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Examining the Role of Socioeconomic Status and Maternal Sensitivity in Predicting Functional Brain Network Connectivity in 5-Month-Old Infants.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2022Article
- Visuo-Motor Affective Interplay: Bonding Scenes Promote Implicit Motor Pre-dispositions Associated With Social Grooming-A Pilot Study.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Article
- Tactile Biography Questionnaire: A contribution to its validation in an Italian sample.PloS one · 2022Article
- Therapeutic Alliance as Active Inference: The Role of Therapeutic Touch and Synchrony.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Article
- Maternal sensitivity and infant neural response to touch: an fNIRS study.Social cognitive and affective neuroscience · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Previous behavioral research points to a positive relationship between maternal touch and early social development. Here, we explored the brain correlates of this relationship. The frequency of maternal touch was recorded for 43 five-year-old children during a 10 min standardized play session. Additionally, all children completed a resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging session. Investigating the default mode network revealed a positive relation between the frequency of maternal touch and activity in the right posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS) extending into the temporo-parietal junction. Using this effect as a seed in a functional connectivity analysis identified a network including extended bilateral regions along the temporal lobe, bilateral frontal cortex, and left insula. Compared with children with low maternal touch, children with high maternal touch showed additional connectivity with the right dorso-medial prefrontal cortex. Together these results support the notion that childhood tactile experiences shape the developing "social brain" with a particular emphasis on a network involved in mentalizing.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.