The proposed work addresses a clear gap in the literature on the early development of neural body maps, and as such will provide novel insights into a fundamental psychological task accomplished by the human infant: The recognition of similarities and differences between self and others. While this capacity is the bedrock of human social cognition, little is known about the neural processes involved in the early registration of correspondences between self and other. Recent work has suggested that studies employing the infant electroencephalogram (EEG) can shed light on the mechanisms that establish and support this prelinguistic mapping at the level of bodily actions. In particular, studies of the sensorimotor mu rhythm in the infant EEG, when taken together with developmental theory and extant behavioral data, are proving to be useful in illuminating the origins of imitative learning and interpersonal connections. In prior EEG work we showed the first evidence for the somatotopic organization of brain responses while 14-month-olds observed an adult's actions. These EEG findings are compatible with findings concerning body part specificity in behavioral imitation by younger infants, although various constraints have precluded the appearance of relevant neuroscience data from human infants in the first weeks and months of life. In the proposed studies we will expand on recent pilot work that has suggested a novel direction for assessing related EEG responses at younger ages. We propose two studies, one with 6-month-old infants and another with 1-month-old infants. In both studies we will analyze event-related EEG responses to discrete tactile stimuli delivered to the infant's hands and feet. In the study of 6-month-olds we will primarily examine whether the topography of the mu rhythm responses to the tactile stimuli is modulated by the infants' visual attention to a corresponding body part of a adult experimenter. In the study of 1-month-olds we will test for somatotopy of evoked responses to tactile stimulation of infants' hands and feet. As a further exploratory goal, in the second study, we will also examine the response to stimulation of the lower lip. The proposed work promises to open up exciting possibilities for studying developmental aspects of body maps, particularly their relation to social engagement processes, and the development of nascent interpersonal body representations in the first weeks and months of life.
Human life is characterized by social connections to other people, with this process beginning very early in life. This research examines neuroscience aspects of infants' abilities to register similarities between themselves and other people. The proposed studies, which involve measuring infant brain activity using non-invasive EEG methods, may stimulate further studies of the origins of the disruptions in social connectedness that are characteristic of autism spectrum disorder.
| Meltzoff, Andrew N; RamÃrez, Rey R; Saby, Joni N et al. (2018) Infant brain responses to felt and observed touch of hands and feet: an MEG study. Dev Sci 21:e12651 |
| Shen, Guannan; Meltzoff, Andrew N; Marshall, Peter J (2018) Touching lips and hearing fingers: effector-specific congruency between tactile and auditory stimulation modulates N1 amplitude and alpha desynchronization. Exp Brain Res 236:13-29 |
| Shen, Guannan; Saby, Joni N; Drew, Ashley R et al. (2017) Exploring potential social influences on brain potentials during anticipation of tactile stimulation. Brain Res 1659:8-18 |
| Saby, Joni N; Meltzoff, Andrew N; Marshall, Peter J (2016) Beyond the N1: A review of late somatosensory evoked responses in human infants. Int J Psychophysiol 110:146-152 |
| Marshall, Peter J (2016) Embodiment and Human Development. Child Dev Perspect 10:245-250 |
| Marshall, Peter J; Meltzoff, Andrew N (2015) Body maps in the infant brain. Trends Cogn Sci 19:499-505 |
