ArticleCurrent biology : CB2017
The Dual Nature of Early-Life Experience on Somatosensory Processing in the Human Infant Brain.
Article in Current biology : CB, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 73 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
73 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 179 citations in OpenAlex.
- Sensory-based interventions in the NICU: systematic review of effects on preterm brain development.Pediatric research · 2022Pooled it
- Breastmilk as a Multisensory Intervention for Relieving Pain during Newborn Screening Procedures: A Randomized Control Trial.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Trial
- Aging Modulates Prefrontal Plasticity Induced by Executive Control Training.Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) · 2021Trial
- Feasibility of event-related potential (ERP) biomarker use to study effects of mother's voice exposure on speech sound differentiation of preterm infants.Developmental neuropsychology · 2018Trial
- Evolution of the auditory environment of very preterm infants before term-equivalent age in relation to room type and parental presence.Pediatric research · 2026Article
- A cascading effects model of early sensory development in autism.Psychological review · 2026Review
- Beyond Adversity: Definitions, Retrospective Assessment, and Experimental Manipulation of Positive Early-Life Experiences.Brain sciences · 2026Review
- Vicarious Touch: A Potential Substitute for Social Touch During Touch Deprivation.European journal of social psychology · 2026Article
- Experience-dependent maturation of somatosensory parvalbumin interneurons during social development in prairie voles.Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) · 2026Article
- Functional KCC2 expression marks an evolutionarily conserved population of early-maturing interneurons in the perinatal cortex.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Impact of touch interventions on brain activity in moderately preterm infants: study protocol for a pilot randomised controlled trial.BMJ open · 2025Article
- Prefrontal Cortical Near-Infrared Spectroscopy for Acute Pain Assessment in Infants: A Feasibility Study.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Article
- Cortical reorganization following dorsal spinal injuries in newborn monkeys reveals a critical period in the development of the somatosensory cortex.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Characterizing the temporal dynamics and maturation of brain activity during sleep: An EEG microstate study in preterm and full-term infants.Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2025Article
- Co-developing sleep-wake and sensory foundations for cognition in the human fetus and newborn.Developmental cognitive neuroscience · 2025Review
- The Effect of Group-Based Early Parent Education on Development in Preterm Infants.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- The impact of premature birth on auditory-visual processes in very preterm schoolchildren.NPJ science of learning · 2024Article
- Longstanding Auditory Sensory and Semantic Differences in Preterm Born Children.Brain topography · 2024Article
- Effect of music-based interventions on physiologic stability of hospitalized preterm infants. A pilot study.Journal of perinatology : official journal of the California Perinatal Association · 2024Article
- Music Therapy in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: A Center's Experience with Program Development, Implementation, and Preliminary Outcomes.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
13 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Every year, 15 million preterm infants are born, and most spend their first weeks in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) [1]. Although essential for the support and survival of these infants, NICU sensory environments are dramatically different from those in which full-term infants mature and thus likely impact the development of functional brain organization [2]. Yet the integrity of sensory systems determines effective perception and behavior [3, 4]. In neonates, touch is a cornerstone of interpersonal interactions and sensory-cognitive development [5-7]. NICU treatments used to improve neurodevelopmental outcomes rely heavily on touch [8]. However, we understand little of how brain maturation at birth (i.e., prematurity) and quality of early-life experiences (e.g., supportive versus painful touch) interact to shape the development of the somatosensory system [9]. Here, we identified the spatial, temporal, and amplitude characteristics of cortical responses to light touch that differentiate them from sham stimuli in full-term infants. We then utilized this data-driven analytical framework to show that the degree of prematurity at birth determines the extent to which brain responses to light touch (but not sham) are attenuated at the time of discharge from the hospital. Building on these results, we showed that, when controlling for prematurity and analgesics, supportive experiences (e.g., breastfeeding, skin-to-skin care) are associated with stronger brain responses, whereas painful experiences (e.g., skin punctures, tube insertions) are associated with reduced brain responses to the same touch stimuli. Our results shed crucial insights into the mechanisms through which common early perinatal experiences may shape the somatosensory scaffolding of later perceptual, cognitive, and social development.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.