In primates, including humans, mothers engage in face-to-face interactions with their infants, with frequencies varying both within and across species. However, the impact of this variation in face-to-face interactions on infant social development is unclear. Here we report that infant monkeys (Macaca mulatta) who engaged in more neonatal face-to-face interactions with mothers have increased social interactions at 2 and 5 months. In a controlled experiment, we show that this effect is not due to physical contact alone: monkeys randomly assigned to receive additional neonatal face-to-face interactions (mutual gaze and intermittent lip-smacking) with human caregivers display increased social interest at 2 months, compared with monkeys who received only additional handling. These studies suggest that face-to-face interactions from birth promote young primate social interest and competency.

Neonatal face-to-face interactions promote later social behaviour in infant rhesus monkeys / Dettmer, A. M.; Kaburu, S. S. K.; Simpson, E. A.; Paukner, A.; Sclafani, V.; Byers, K. L.; Murphy, A. M.; Miller, M.; Marquez, N.; Miller, G. M.; Suomi, S. J.; Ferrari, P. F.. - In: NATURE COMMUNICATIONS. - ISSN 2041-1723. - 7:1(2016), p. 11940. [10.1038/ncomms11940]

Neonatal face-to-face interactions promote later social behaviour in infant rhesus monkeys

Sclafani V.;Ferrari P. F.
2016-01-01

Abstract

In primates, including humans, mothers engage in face-to-face interactions with their infants, with frequencies varying both within and across species. However, the impact of this variation in face-to-face interactions on infant social development is unclear. Here we report that infant monkeys (Macaca mulatta) who engaged in more neonatal face-to-face interactions with mothers have increased social interactions at 2 and 5 months. In a controlled experiment, we show that this effect is not due to physical contact alone: monkeys randomly assigned to receive additional neonatal face-to-face interactions (mutual gaze and intermittent lip-smacking) with human caregivers display increased social interest at 2 months, compared with monkeys who received only additional handling. These studies suggest that face-to-face interactions from birth promote young primate social interest and competency.
2016
Neonatal face-to-face interactions promote later social behaviour in infant rhesus monkeys / Dettmer, A. M.; Kaburu, S. S. K.; Simpson, E. A.; Paukner, A.; Sclafani, V.; Byers, K. L.; Murphy, A. M.; Miller, M.; Marquez, N.; Miller, G. M.; Suomi, S. J.; Ferrari, P. F.. - In: NATURE COMMUNICATIONS. - ISSN 2041-1723. - 7:1(2016), p. 11940. [10.1038/ncomms11940]
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11381/2886133
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