The role of affective touch in modulating emotion processing among preschool children

Synchrony perception across senses: A systematic review of temporal binding window changes from infancy to adolescence in typical and atypical development

Sensory integration is increasingly acknowledged as being crucial for the development of cognitive and social abilities. However, its developmental trajectory is still little understood. This systematic review delves into the topic by investigating the literature about the developmental changes from infancy through adolescence of the Temporal Binding Window (TBW) - the epoch of time within which sensory inputs are perceived as simultaneous and therefore integrated. Following comprehensive searches across PubMed, Elsevier, and PsycInfo databases, only experimental, behavioral, English-language, peer-reviewed studies on multisensory temporal processing in 0-17-year-olds have been included. Non-behavioral, non-multisensory, and non-human studies have been excluded as those that did not directly focus on the TBW. The selection process was independently performed by two Authors. The 39 selected studies involved 2859 participants in total. Findings indicate a predisposition towards cross-modal asynchrony sensitivity and a composite, still unclear, developmental trajectory, with atypical development associated to increased asynchrony tolerance. These results highlight the need for consistent and thorough research into TBW development to inform potential interventions.

Stroking in early mother-infant exchanges: The role of maternal tactile biography and interoceptive sensibility

Caress-like is a crucial component of caregiving and a key factor in mother-infant interactions. Mother's experience of touch during her own childhood (i.e., tactile biography) has been found to be related to maternal actual use of caress-like touch (i.e., stroking) during mother-infant exchanges. Evidence also suggests that maternal interoceptive sensibility (i.e., self-perceived sensitivity to inner-body sensations) might be related to sensitive caregiving abilities. However, further empirical investigation is needed to understand to what extent tactile biography and interoceptive sensibility have an impact on mothers' stroking when interacting with their infants. Using an online survey, this cross-sectional study explored the potential association between maternal tactile biography, interoceptive sensibility and use of touch for interaction with their own infants in a group of 377 Italian mothers (mean age = 33.29; SD = 4.79). We tested and compared a series of multivariate linear mediation models using maternal tactile biography as predictor, maternal use of affective touch as outcome variable and Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA) subscale scores as mediators. We found that, if a mother had positive touch experiences in her own childhood, she may be more likely to use touch in a positive and nurturing way with her own infant (i.e., stroking). Furthermore, mothers' interoceptive sensibility in the form of attention regulation, self-regulation and body listening mediates the association between their past experiences of positive touch and their use of caress-like touch in mother-infant exchanges. This study highlights that maternal tactile biography is directly associated with mothers' use of caress-like touch and indirectly linked to it through the mediating role of interoceptive sensibility.