INFANTS SENSITIVITY TO MANIPULATIONS OF MATERNAL TOUCH DURING FACE-TO-FACE INTERACTIONS

Forty-eight mothers and their 5.5-month-olds participated in a series efface-to-face interactions consisting of a Normal plus three still-fa ce (SF) periods where mothers could touch their infants (SF with touch ). The primary objective was to determine whether young infants are se nsitive to subtle changes in maternal touch. Variations in infants' af fective and attentional responses were revealed as a function of the d ifferent periods; infants smiled more when mothers were requested to m aximize their smiling using touch alone, and gaze shifted from mothers ' faces in the Normal period to their hands in the SI: with touch peri ods. Results imply that: (1) infants are sensitive to subtle changes i n their mothers' touching, (2) mothers are effective in using touch to elicit specific infant responses, (3) touch-only interactions are pos itive, as reflected in infants' gaze and affective displays, (4) mothe rs use consistent types of touch when touching specific areas of their infants' bodies during brief interactions.