Babies can 鈥榝eel鈥� when they see others touched
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The brains of babies as young as four months respond to seeing another person’s hand being touched, researchers at 牛牛资源 and the University of Essex have shown.
Could babies feeling when they see others touched represent the origins of empathy?
The new study suggests that even at this young age babies are able to vicariously experience the tactile sensations of others. Touch is our earliest sense and understanding its origins is particularly important as it is vital to the bond that forms between babies and parents.
A report of the research will be published in the journal Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience.
The researchers showed 15 four-month-old babies short video clips of a paintbrush either gently touching another person鈥檚 hand or touching the table surface next to the hand. At the same time as seeing these clips the babies felt a touch sensation generated by a vibrating 鈥榯actor鈥� device fitted inside scratch mittens.
A 鈥榗ap鈥� of electrodes was placed on the babies鈥� heads. This was used to measure 鈥榩eaks鈥� in electrical activity (somatosensory evoked potentials 鈥� 鈥楽EPs鈥�) generated in the touch areas of the babies鈥� brains (somatosensory cortex) when the vibrating 鈥榯actor鈥� delivered a touch to their hands. The researchers found these SEPs were supressed when they simultaneously watched someone else鈥檚 hand being touched 鈥� suggesting that seeing someone else being touched influenced the babies鈥� perceptions of touch to their own hands.
Professor Andy Bremner, Head of Psychology at 牛牛资源 and senior author, said: 鈥淲e know that in adults seeing other people being touched, or touching objects, activates similar brain areas as when we experience touch ourselves. However, we have only just begun to study how this 鈥榲icarious mapping鈥� of experiences, something vital to feeling empathy, develops in early life.
鈥淲e found that in these young babies the prominent 鈥榩eaks鈥� in activity in brain regions related to touch were significantly affected by watching someone else鈥檚 hand being touched. It suggests that, even at just four months, babies can, to some extent, vicariously 鈥榝eel鈥� what鈥檚 happening to another person, and this might represent the early sensory origins of the empathic responses which we as adults have for others.鈥�
Further research will help shed light on how specific this effect is. For instance, further questions concern how much like a human hand the seen hand has to be for young babies to show this 鈥榲icarious mapping鈥� of experience.
A report of the research, entitled 鈥楥ortical signatures of vicarious tactile experience in four-month-old infants鈥�, will be published in the journal Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience.