Increasing evidence shows that maternal touch may promote emotion regulation in infants, however less is known about how parental higher-order social cognition abilities are translated into tactile, affect-regulatory behaviours towards their infants. During 10 min book-reading, mother-infant sessions when infants were 12 months old (N = 45), we investigated maternal mind-mindedness (MM), the social cognitive ability to understand an infant's mental state, by coding the contingency of maternal verbal statements towards the infants' needs and desires. We also rated spontaneous tactile interactions in terms of their emotional contingency. We found that frequent non-attuned mind-related comments were associated with touch behaviours that were not contingent with the infant's emotions; ultimately discouraging affective tactile responses from the infant. However, comments that were more appropriate to infant's mental states did not necessarily predict more emotionally-contingent tactile behaviours. These findings suggest that when parental high-order social cognitive abilities are compromised, they are also likely to translate into inappropriate, tactile attempts to regulate infant's emotions.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2018.01.010 | DOI Listing |
Dev Psychol
January 2025
Psychological Neuroscience Lab, Psychology Research Center, School of Psychology, University of Minho.
Social touch is a crucial part of how mothers interact with their infants, with different touch types serving distinct purposes in these exchanges. However, there is still a limited understanding of how mothers' touch behavior adapts to specific interactive tasks, particularly throughout infancy. To address this gap, we observed mother-infant dyads at 7 and 12 months during three structured social play tasks: (a) play with objects, (b) play without objects, and (c) play with a difficult object.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBrain Struct Funct
January 2025
Department of Physiology and Neurobiology, Laboratory of Molecular and Systems Neurobiology, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary.
The lateral septum (LS) demonstrates activation in response to pup exposure in mothers, and its lesions eliminate maternal behaviors suggesting it is part of the maternal brain circuitry. This study shows that the density of pup-activated neurons in the ventral subdivision of the LS (LSv) is nearly equivalent to that in the medial preoptic area (MPOA), the major regulatory site of maternal behavior in rat dams. However, when somatosensory inputs including suckling were not allowed, pup-activation was markedly reduced in the LSv.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFReprod Health
December 2024
The George Institute for Global Health, Imperial College London, London, UK.
Target 3.7 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aims for universal access to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services by 2030, including family planning services, information, education, and integration into national strategies. In contemporary times, reproductive medicine is progressively incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance sperm cell prediction and selection, in vitro fertilisation models, infertility and pregnancy screening.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInfant Behav Dev
December 2024
Department of Psychology, the University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, United States.
Physical contact between infants and caregivers is crucial for attachment development. Previous research shows that skin-to-skin contact after birth and frequent baby wearing in the first year predict secure attachment at 12-months. This relationship is thought to be mediated by the activation of infants' parasympathetic nervous system through caregiver touch.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Mother Child
February 2024
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, School of Medicine, The University of Jordan, Amman 11942, Jordan.
Background: This study seeks to investigate the relationship between birth experience and risk of developing postpartum depression among Jordanian women. Furthermore, it aims to explore the prevalence and risk factors of postpartum depression and raise awareness of it among Jordanians.
Material And Methods: This study was carried out on 214 postpartum Jordanian women at Jordan University Hospital (JUH).
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