Infant brain responses to felt and observed touch of hands and feet: an MEG study.

ABSTRACT: There is growing interest concerning the ways in which the human body, both one's own and that of others, is represented in the developing human brain. In two experiments with 7-month-old infants, we employed advances in infant magnetoencephalography (MEG) brain imaging to address novel questions concerning body representations in early development. Experiment 1 evaluated the spatiotemporal organization of infants' brain responses to being touched. A punctate touch to infants' hands and feet produced significant activation in the hand and foot areas of contralateral primary somatosensory cortex as well as in other parietal and frontal areas. Experiment 2 explored infant brain responses to visually perceiving another person's hand or foot being touched. Results showed significant activation

SUBMITTER: Meltzoff AN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6045975 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature