Infant touch with gaze and affective behaviors during mother-infant still-face interactions: Co-occurrence and functions of touch

Abstract

The current study was designed to investigate the role of infant touch during early mother-infant interactions with changes in maternal availability. Forty-four dyads participated in the SF procedure. Objectives were to examine co-occurring behavioral pairs across periods, and to investigate the functions of touch. Findings revealed that co-occurring behaviors and the functions of touch varied across interaction periods. Static touch co-occurred with gaze at mothers, and infants exhibited playful functions of touch during the Normal periods. Soothing (i.e., stroke, finger, mouth) and reactive (i.e., grab, pat, pull) types of touch co-occurred with gaze away from mother during the SF period, and infants exhibited more regulatory and exploratory functions during the SF period. These findings suggest that the way in which infant touch is organized with gaze and affect changes with the interactive context and underscore the important regulatory, exploratory and communicative roles of touch during early socio-emotional development.