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Infants' Sensitivity to Manipulations of Maternal Touch During Face‐to‐Face Interactions *
Author(s) -
Stack Dale M.,
LePage Diane E.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
social development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.078
H-Index - 91
eISSN - 1467-9507
pISSN - 0961-205X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9507.1996.tb00071.x
Subject(s) - psychology , face (sociological concept) , developmental psychology , maternal sensitivity , face to face , cognitive psychology , sociology , social science , philosophy , epistemology
Forty‐eight mothers and their 5.5‐month‐olds participated in a series of face‐to‐face interactions consisting of a Normal plus three still‐face (SF) periods where mothers could touch their infants (SF with touch). The primary objective was to determine whether young infants are sensitive to subtle changes in maternal touch. Variations in infants' affective and attentional responses were revealed as a function of the different periods; infants smiled more when mothers were requested to maximize their smiling using touch alone, and gaze shifted from mothers' faces in the Normal period to their hands in the SF with touch periods. Results imply that: (1) infants are sensitive to subtle changes in their mothers' touching, (2) mothers are effective in using touch to elicit specific infant responses, (3) touch‐only interactions are positive, as reflected in infants' gaze and affective displays, (4) mothers use consistent types of touch when touching specific areas of their infants' bodies during brief interactions.