Infant Stimuli Research Articles

Interoception sensitivity in the parental brain during the first months of parenting modulates children's somatic symptoms six years later: The role of oxytocin.

Interoception, the perception and interpretation of one's own bodily signals, is a key aspect of human caregiving that impacts infant health and well-being across life. Interoception relies on limbic structures, mainly the amygdala, and the agranular visceromotor cortex, particularly the anterior insula (AI), that integrate with the oxytocin (OT) system to support interoceptive sensitivity. Here, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine whether interoception sensitivity in the parent's brain during the first months of parenting combines with sensitive parenting and OT-system functionality to predict children's somatic symptoms six years later. We followed 45 primary-caregiving first-time mothers and fathers and their infants across the first six years of parenting. In infancy (Time 1), parents' brain response to infant stimuli was imaged, salivary OT measured, and parent-infant interactions coded for parent sensitivity. In preschool (Time 2), parent and child's OT and parent sensitivity were measured again. At six years (Time 3), parents reported on children's somatic symptoms. Greater activation of the parent's AI bilaterally when his/her child was an infant predicted lower child somatic problems at six years. Parent sensitivity partially mediated the links between parental AI activation and child somatic symptoms. In addition, greater parental bilateral amygdala activity predicted higher child OT levels at 3 years and parental OT moderated the relations between preschoolers' OT and later somatic symptoms. Our findings chart two independent cross-generational pathways from interoception sensitivity in the parent's brain and child somatization. The first defines an evolutionary-ancient path including the amygdala and the OT system that support mammalian attention to arousal modulations in response to social cues; the second, via the AI, implicates higher-order interoceptive representations of bodily responses and affective states that underpins human embodiment.

Preliminary evidence for neural responsiveness to infants in mothers with schizophrenia and the implications for healthy parenting

Schizophrenia is a severe mental illness that may significantly affect maternal sensitive behaviour. Neural correlates of maternal behaviour represent a potentially valuable means of differentiating objectively between healthy mothers expressing variations in maternal sensitivity. As mothers with schizophrenia (MWS) show deficits in behavioural responses to infants compared to healthy mothers, we explored whether maternal brain responses to infant stimuli would be significantly reduced in MWS. We also examined whether differences in maternal behaviour between healthy and ill mothers (during play interactions with own infant) were associated with differences in brain activation to infant stimuli.We found no evidence of differential ‘maternal brain’ responses or ‘maternal behavioural’ responses in 11 new MWS compared to 20 healthy new mums; neither were neural responses to infants linked to behavioural or cognitive aspects of the mother's relationship with her infant in MWS. These preliminary findings suggest maternal sensitivity differences between MWS and healthy mothers, suggested in previous studies, may be reversible in stable treated MWS.

Epigenetic Modifications Following Noxious Stimuli in Infants.

To recruit healthy full- and preterm infants into genetic research and determine the effectiveness of a noninvasive DNA sampling technique for comparing epigenetic modifications. Noxious stimuli during a vulnerable period of infant neuronal plasticity may trigger long-term epigenetic changes affecting neurodevelopment, pain modulation, and reactivity. Recognizing epigenetic pain findings is problematic because parents are reluctant to enroll newborns into genetic research. Design: Within-subject change over time candidate-gene DNA methylation association study. Setting/ sample: Urban teaching hospital's neonatal intensive care unit and newborn nursery. Convenience sample of healthy full- (>37 weeks, n = 6) and preterm (<37 weeks, n = 6) infants. Parents participated in a genetic presentation prior to informed consent. Infant buccal saliva was collected after admission to the unit and prior to discharge. The methylation pattern at the 5' end of µ-opioid receptor gene ( OPRM1) was examined. DNA was treated with bisulfite to convert all cytosines to uracil residues, leaving methylated cytosines unchanged. Sequencing of untreated and bisulfite-converted DNA was carried out. The sequences of unconverted and bisulfite-converted DNA were aligned with ClustalW, fidelity of the polymerase chain reaction and the sequencing reaction evaluated, and the methylation pattern identified. Recruitment and assessment of a noninvasive DNA sampling technique for comparing epigenetic modifications were successful; however, infant stress did not produce a change in OPRM1 methylation expression. This study established the feasibility of recruiting healthy full-term infants into genetic research and the effectiveness of noninvasive DNA sampling for comparing epigenetic modification in infants.

Negative affect is related to reduced differential neural responses to social and non-social stimuli in 5-to-8-month-old infants: A functional near-infrared spectroscopy-study

Both social perception and temperament in young infants have been related to social functioning later in life. Previous functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) data (Lloyd-Fox et al., 2009) showed larger blood-oxygenation changes for social compared to non-social stimuli in the posterior temporal cortex of five-month-old infants. We sought to replicate and extend these findings by using fNIRS to study the neural basis of social perception in relation to infant temperament (Negative Affect) in 37 five-to-eight-month-old infants.Infants watched short videos displaying either hand and facial movements of female actors (social dynamic condition) or moving toys and machinery (non-social dynamic condition), while fNIRS data were collected over temporal brain regions. Negative Affect was measured using the Infant Behavior Questionnaire.Results showed significantly larger blood-oxygenation changes in the right posterior-temporal region in the social compared to the non-social condition. Furthermore, this differential activation was smaller in infants showing higher Negative Affect.Our results replicate those of Lloyd-Fox et al. and confirmed that five-to-eight-month-old infants show cortical specialization for social perception. Furthermore, the decreased cortical sensitivity to social stimuli in infants showing high Negative Affect may be an early biomarker for later difficulties in social interaction.

6.3 Functional Connectivity Analysis of Maternal Brain Responses to Infant Stimuli and How They Are Moderated By Substance Abuse

The neural correlates of mother-infant interactions and how they are moderated by substance abuse have been previously assessed in a population of substance-abusing mothers (SAM) and non-substance-abusing mothers (NSAM) using general-linear-model-based (GLM) analytical methods on fMRI data. By applying a novel and innovative analytical approach, the intrinsic connectivity distribution (ICD), to the same data collected in SAM and NSAM, our objective is to identify between-group differences in functional connectivity in mothers with and without substance abuse.

Differing Developmental Trajectories in Heart Rate Responses to Speech Stimuli in Infants at High and Low Risk for Autism Spectrum Disorder.

We investigated heart rate (HR) in infants at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months of age, at high (HRA) and low (LRC) familial risk for ASD, to identify potential endophenotypes of ASD risk related to attentional responses. HR was extracted from functional near-infrared spectroscopy recordings while infants listened to speech stimuli. Longitudinal analysis revealed that HRA infants and males generally had lower baseline HR than LRC infants and females. HRA infants showed decreased HR responses to early trials over development, while LRC infants showed increased responses. These findings suggest altered developmental trajectories in physiological responses to speech stimuli over the first year of life, with HRA infants showing less social orienting over time.

Empathy networks in the parental brain and their long-term effects on children's stress reactivity and behavior adaptation

Parental empathy is a key component of sensitive parenting that supports children's social adaptation throughout life. Consistent with a two dissociable network perspective on empathy, we measured within- and between-network integrity of two empathy-related networks in the parental brain as predictors of children's social outcomes across the first six years of life. We focused on two empathy networks; embodied simulation, which supports parents' capacity to resonate with infant state and emotions and implicates cingulo-insulary structures, and mentalizing, which underpins parents' theory-of-mind and mental attributions via prefrontal-temporo-parietal circuit. We followed 87 first-time parents across the first six years of family formation, including heterosexual and homosexual parents. In infancy, parents' brain response to own versus unfamiliar infant stimuli was imaged; in preschool, children's cortisol production and emotion regulation were assessed; and at six years, children's behavior problems were reported. Parents' intra- and inter- network integrity increased when viewing their own infant compared to unfamiliar infant, suggesting that attachment stimuli increase network coherence in the parental brain. Functional connectivity within the parent's embodied simulation network in infancy predicted lower child cortisol production while inter-network connectivity among the embodied simulation and mentalizing networks was associated with more advanced child emotion regulation skills in preschool and lower internalizing problems at six years. Children's emotion regulation capacities mediated the link between inter-network integrity in the parental brain and internalizing symptoms. Our findings, the first to demonstrate that integrity of empathy-related networks in the parental brain shape children's long-term stress reactivity and emotional adaptation, highlight the brain component of the parental empathy attribute, suggest that increased coherence within the "parental caregiving network" marks a key feature of parent-infant attachment, and contribute to discussion on biobehavioral mechanisms underpinning the cross-generation transmission of human stress reactivity and sociality.

The Dual Nature of Early-Life Experience on Somatosensory Processing in the Human Infant Brain

Every year, 15 million preterm infants are born, and most spend their first weeks in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) [1]. Although essential for the support and survival of these infants, NICU sensory environments are dramatically different from those in which full-term infants mature and thus likely impact the development of functional brain organization [2]. Yet the integrity of sensory systems determines effective perception and behavior [3, 4]. In neonates, touch is a cornerstone of interpersonal interactions and sensory-cognitive development [5-7]. NICU treatments used to improve neurodevelopmental outcomes rely heavily on touch [8]. However, we understand little of how brain maturation at birth (i.e., prematurity) and quality of early-life experiences (e.g., supportive versus painful touch) interact to shape the development of the somatosensory system [9]. Here, we identified the spatial, temporal, and amplitude characteristics of cortical responses to light touch that differentiate them from sham stimuli in full-term infants. We then utilized this data-driven analytical framework to show that the degree of prematurity at birth determines the extent to which brain responses to light touch (but not sham) are attenuated at the time of discharge from the hospital. Building on these results, we showed that, when controlling for prematurity and analgesics, supportive experiences (e.g., breastfeeding, skin-to-skin care) are associated with stronger brain responses, whereas painful experiences (e.g., skin punctures, tube insertions) are associated with reduced brain responses to the same touch stimuli. Our results shed crucial insights into the mechanisms through which common early perinatal experiences may shape the somatosensory scaffolding of later perceptual, cognitive, and social development.

Mothers\u2019 pupillary responses to infant facial expressions

BackgroundHuman parental care relies heavily on the ability to monitor and respond to a child’s affective states. The current study examined pupil diameter as a potential physiological index of mothers’ affective response to infant facial expressions.MethodsPupillary time-series were measured from 86 mothers of young infants in response to an array of photographic infant faces falling into four emotive categories based on valence (positive vs. negative) and arousal (mild vs. strong).ResultsPupil dilation was highly sensitive to the valence of facial expressions, being larger for negative vs. positive facial expressions. A separate control experiment with luminance-matched non-face stimuli indicated that the valence effect was specific to facial expressions and cannot be explained by luminance confounds. Pupil response was not sensitive to the arousal level of facial expressions.ConclusionsThe results show the feasibility of using pupil diameter as a marker of mothers’ affective responses to ecologically valid infant stimuli and point to a particularly prompt maternal response to infant distress cues.

Use of eye tracking improves the detection of evoked responses to complex visual stimuli during EEG in infants

ObjectiveTo improve the reliability of detecting EEG responses evoked by complex visual stimuli to the level required for clinical use by integrating an eye tracker to the EEG setup and optimizing the analysis protocol. MethodsInfants were presented with continuous orientation reversal (OR), global form (GF), and global motion (GM) stimuli. Eye tracking was used to control stimulus presentation and exclude epochs with disoriented gaze. The spectral responses were estimated from 13 postcentral EEG channels using a circular variant of Hotelling’s T2 test statistic. ResultsAmong 39 healthy infants, statistically significant (p<0.01) responses to OR/GF/GM stimuli were found from 92%/100%/95% recordings, respectively. The specificity test of the detection algorithm, using non-stimulated baseline EEG, did not yield any false-positive findings. Taken together, this yields 15% improvement on average in the detection performance compared to that in the current literature. ConclusionsChanges to the test protocol and incorporation of the eye tracking information improves the detection of responses to complex visual stimuli in infants. SignificanceThis work presents a test protocol suitable for use in a clinical environment at a level of reliability that allows individual diagnostics.

A comparison between preterm and full‐term infants’ preference for faces

ObjectiveVisual preference for faces at birth is the product of a multimodal sensory experience experienced by the fetus even during the gestational period. The ability to recognize faces allows an ecologically advantageous interaction with the social environment. However, perinatal events such as premature birth, may adversely affect the adequate development of this capacity. In this study, we evaluated the preference for facial stimuli in preterm infants within the first few hours after birth. MethodsThis is a cross‐sectional observational study of 59 newborns, 28 preterm and 31 full‐term infants. The babies were assessed in the first hours of life, with two white boards in the shape of a head and neck: one with the drawing of a face similar to the human face (natural face), and one with the drawing of misaligned eyes, mouth and nose (distorted face). After the newborn fixated the eyes on the presented stimulus, it was slowly moved along the visual field. The recognition of the stimulus was considered present when the baby had eye or head movements toward the stimulus. ResultsThe preterm infants, in addition to showing a lower occurrence of orientation movements for both stimuli, on average (1.8±1.1 to natural faces and 2.0±1.2 for distorted ones) also showed no preference for any of them (p=0.35). Full‐term newborns showed a different behavior, in which they showed a preference for natural faces (p=0.002) and a higher number of orientations for the stimulus, for both natural (3.2±0.8) and distorted faces (2.5±0.9). ConclusionPreterm newborns recognize facial stimuli and disclose no preference for natural faces, different from full‐term newborns.

The eye of the retriever: developing episodic memory mechanisms in preverbal infants assessed through pupil dilation.

Studying memory in infants can be challenging, as they cannot express their subjective recollection verbally. In this study we use a novel method with which we can assess episodic recognition memory through pupillometry, using identical procedures and stimuli for infants and adults. In three experiments of 4- and 7-month-old infants, and adults we show that the adult pupillary response is larger to previously seen than to never seen items (old/new effect). Pupil dilations index subjective memory experience in adults, producing distinct pupil dilations to items judged as remembered, familiar, and new, regardless of actual previous exposure (Experiment 1). Seven-month-old infants demonstrate a clear pupillary old/new effect, very similar to that of adults (Experiment 2), whereas 4-month-olds do not demonstrate such an effect (Experiment 3). Our findings suggest that the mnemonic mechanisms that serve infants' and adults' episodic recognition memory are more similar than previously asserted: they are not fully developed at 4months of age but that there is contiguity in human episodic memory development from 7months of age.

Cortical specialisation to social stimuli from the first days to the second year of life: A rural Gambian cohort

Brain and nervous system development in human infants during the first 1000days (conception to two years of age) is critical, and compromised development during this time (such as from under nutrition or poverty) can have life-long effects on physical growth and cognitive function. Cortical mapping of cognitive function during infancy is poorly understood in resource-poor settings due to the lack of transportable and low-cost neuroimaging methods. Having established a signature cortical response to social versus non-social visual and auditory stimuli in infants from 4 to 6 months of age in the UK, here we apply this functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) paradigm to investigate social responses in infants from the first postnatal days to the second year of life in two contrasting environments: rural Gambian and urban UK. Results reveal robust, localized, socially selective brain responses from 9 to 24 months of life to both the visual and auditory stimuli. In contrast at 0–2 months of age infants exhibit non-social auditory selectivity, an effect that persists until 4–8 months when we observe a transition to greater social stimulus selectivity. These findings reveal a robust developmental curve of cortical specialisation over the first two years of life.

Natural variation in maternal sensitivity is reflected in maternal brain responses to infant stimuli.

Increasing evidence suggests that discrete neural networks that mediate emotion processing are activated when mothers respond to infant's images or cries. Accumulating data also indicate that natural variation in maternal caregiving behavior is related to maternal oxytocin (OT) levels. However, brain activation to infant cues has not been studied comparing mothers at disparate ends of the "maternal sensitivity" spectrum. Based on observed mother-infant play interaction at 4-6 months postpartum in 80 antenatally recruited mothers, 15 mothers with the highest sensitivity (HSMs) and 15 mothers with the lowest sensitivity (LSMs) were followed at 7-9 months using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine brain responses to viewing videos of their "own" versus an "unknown" infant in 3 affect states (neutral, happy, and sad). Plasma OT measurements were taken from mothers following play interactions with their infant. Compared with LSMs, HSMs showed significantly greater brain activation in right superior temporal gyrus (STG) in response to own versus unknown neutral infant and to own happy versus neutral control. Changes in brain activation were significantly negatively correlated with plasma OT responses in HSMs mothers. Conversely, compared with HSMs, LSMs showed no significant activation difference in response to own infant separately or in contrast to unknown infant. Activation of STG may index sensitive maternal response to own infant stimuli. Sensitive parenting may have its unique profile in relation to brain responses which can act as biomarkers for future intervention studies that enhance sensitivity of maternal care. (PsycINFO Database Record

Skin conductance reveals the early development of the unconscious processing of emotions

The ability to rapidly distinguish between positive and negative facial expressions of emotions is critical for adaptive social behaviour. Increasing evidence has shown that emotions can be processed even at an unconscious level in adults. Yet, very little is still known about the early ontogeny of the unconscious processing of emotional signals conveyed by faces. Here, we investigated the processing of subliminally presented face emotional stimuli in infants as young as 3–4 months of age and sought to clarify its neural underpinnings by exploring the role of the autonomic nervous system. Using a visual preference paradigm, Experiment 1 determined the visibility threshold for happy and angry faces and established that infants detected both happy and angry faces at 200- but not at 100 msec. By measuring skin conductance response (SCR), Experiment 2 showed that the autonomic nervous system of infants reacted to both subliminally (100 msec) and supraliminally (200 msec) presented face expressions of emotions, and that SCR were higher for angry than happy facial expressions. Results revealed that 3–4 month-old infants respond to positive and negative emotions even at an unconscious level, but also show that angry faces possess an intrinsic alerting characteristics, suggestive of an adaptive meaning of the physiological response. Findings are discussed in terms of subcortical learning of emotions, and the possibility that the amygdala may be involved in such process.

A comparison between preterm and full-term infants’ preference for faces

ObjectiveVisual preference for faces at birth is the product of a multimodal sensory experience experienced by the fetus even during the gestational period. The ability to recognize faces allows an ecologically advantageous interaction with the social environment. However, perinatal events such as premature birth, may adversely affect the adequate development of this capacity. In this study, we evaluated the preference for facial stimuli in preterm infants within the first few hours after birth. MethodsThis is a cross-sectional observational study of 59 newborns, 28 preterm and 31 full-term infants. The babies were assessed in the first hours of life, with two white boards in the shape of a head and neck: one with the drawing of a face similar to the human face (natural face), and one with the drawing of misaligned eyes, mouth and nose (distorted face). After the newborn fixated the eyes on the presented stimulus, it was slowly moved along the visual field. The recognition of the stimulus was considered present when the baby had eye or head movements toward the stimulus. ResultsThe preterm infants, in addition to showing a lower occurrence of orientation movements for both stimuli, on average (1.8±1.1 to natural faces and 2.0±1.2 for distorted ones) also showed no preference for any of them (p=0.35). Full-term newborns showed a different behavior, in which they showed a preference for natural faces (p=0.002) and a higher number of orientations for the stimulus, for both natural (3.2±0.8) and distorted faces (2.5±0.9). ConclusionPreterm newborns recognize facial stimuli and disclose no preference for natural faces, different from full-term newborns.

Network integrity of the parental brain in infancy supports the development of children’s social competencies

The cross-generational transmission of mammalian sociality, initiated by the parent’s postpartum brain plasticity and species-typical behavior that buttress offspring’s socialization, has not been studied in humans. In this longitudinal study, we measured brain response of 45 primary-caregiving parents to their infant’s stimuli, observed parent–infant interactions, and assayed parental oxytocin (OT). Intra- and inter-network connectivity were computed in three main networks of the human parental brain: core limbic, embodied simulation and mentalizing. During preschool, two key child social competencies were observed: emotion regulation and socialization. Parent’s network integrity in infancy predicted preschoolers’ social outcomes, with subcortical and cortical network integrity foreshadowing simple evolutionary-based regulatory tactics vs complex self-regulatory strategies and advanced socialization. Parent–infant synchrony mediated the links between connectivity of the parent’s embodied simulation network and preschoolers' ability to use cognitive/executive emotion regulation strategies, highlighting the inherently dyadic nature of this network and its long-term effects on tuning young to social life. Parent’s inter-network core limbic-embodied simulation connectivity predicted children’s OT as moderated by parental OT. Findings challenge solipsistic neuroscience perspectives by demonstrating how the parent–offspring interface enables the brain of one human to profoundly impact long-term adaptation of another.

Establishing a Biomarker of Cortical Specialisation in infants in The Gambia and UK

Brain and nervous system development in human infants during the first 1000 days ‐ which includes pregnancy and the first two years of life ‐ is critical, and risk of compromised development during this time can have a deep impact on physical growth and cognitive function into adulthood. Recent research has shown that under nutrition in infancy is linked to lifelong effects on adult health, however we still have a comparatively poor understanding of how nutrition effects brain development during early life. The development of non‐invasive brain imaging techniques, such as functional near infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS), has allowed a recent shift in the use of neuroimaging towards the study of the developing brain in situations where this development may be at risk or compromised in some way. Furthermore, objective measures of brain function may provide information that to date has been unavailable with existing behavioural paradigms.Recent fNIRS research in typically developing infants has shown robust and consistent activation to social vs non‐social visual and auditory stimuli in the inferior frontal, anterior temporal and posterior superior temporal – temporo parietal junction (pST‐TPJ) regions of the cortex. Having established this signature response in infants from 4 to 6 months of age, here we apply this paradigm to the investigation of social responses in infants from the first days of life to the first year in two different settings: urban European and rural Gambian. This is a cross sectional study of infants in the Gambia and UK at 0–2, 4–8 and 12–16 months of age (0–2 months ‐ N = 14 UK &amp; N = 19 Gambia; 4 – 8 mths ‐ N = 64 UK &amp; N = 24 Gambia; 12 – 16 months – N = 15 UK &amp; N = 22 Gambia). Results reveal robust and consistent socially selective responses from 4 – 16 mths of life to both the visual and auditory stimuli. In contrast at 0–2 mths of age a stronger response is evidenced to the non‐social auditory stimuli in the Gambian infants. In ongoing analyses we are investigating whether these brain responses also differ in the 0–2 month olds in the UK.These findings provide a key biomarker of cortical specialization over the first year of life. We believe this method could be applied to the study of compromised development in global health research where infants are exposed to a broad range of adversity early in life including poverty, malnourishment and recurrent infections.Support or Funding InformationBill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Medical Research Council UK

Preference for Dynamic Human Images and Gaze-Following Abilities in Preterm Infants at 6 and 12 Months of Age: An Eye-Tracking Study.

Preterm children are reported to be at higher risk of social communication problems such as autism spectrum disorder compared with full-term infants. Although previous studies have suggested that preference for social stimuli in infancy is a possible indicator of later social communication development, little is known about this relation in preterm infants. We examined the gaze behavior of low-risk preterm and full-term infants at 6 and 12months' corrected ages using two types of eye-tracking tasks, which measured 1) preference for social stimuli by biological motion and human geometric preference and 2) ability to follow another's gaze direction. We found that preterm (compared with full-term) infants at both 6 and 12months of age spent less time looking toward dynamic human images, followed another's gaze less frequently, and looked for a shorter time at an object cued by another. Moreover, we found a positive correlation between looking time toward dynamic human images and frequency of gaze following at 12months of age in full-term, but not preterm, infants. We discuss the relation between the atypical patterns of gaze behavior in preterm infants and their higher risk of later social communication problems.

Mapping Cortical Responses to Somatosensory Stimuli in Human Infants with Simultaneous Near-Infrared Spectroscopy and Event-Related Potential Recording.

Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) and electroencephalography (EEG) have recently provided fundamental new information about how the newborn brain processes innocuous and noxious somatosensory information. However, results derived independently from these two techniques are not entirely consistent, raising questions about the relationship between hemodynamic and electrophysiological responses in the study of touch and pain processing in the newborn. To address this, we have recorded NIRS and EEG responses simultaneously for the first time in the human infant following noxious (time-locked clinically required heel lances) and innocuous tactile cutaneous stimulation in 30 newborn infants. The results show that both techniques can be used to record quantifiable and distinct innocuous and noxious evoked activity at a group level in the newborn cortex. Noxious stimulation elicits a peak hemodynamic response that is 10-fold larger than that elicited by an innocuous stimulus (HbO2: 2.0 vs 0.3 µm) and a distinct nociceptive-specific N3P3 waveform in electrophysiological recordings. However, a novel single-trial analysis revealed that hemodynamic and electrophysiological responses do not always co-occur at an individual level, although when they do (64% of noxious test occasions), they are significantly correlated in magnitude. These data show that, while hemodynamic and electrophysiological touch and pain brain activity in newborn infants are comparable in group analyses, important individual differences remain. These data indicate that integrated and multimodal brain monitoring is required to understand central touch and pain processing in the newborn.