Infants´ sex affects neural responses to affective touch in early infancy
Isabella L.C. Mariani Wigley1*, Malin Björnsdotter2,3, Noora M. Scheinin4,5, Harri Merisaari4,6, Jani Saunavaara6, Riitta Parkkola6,7, Sabrina Bonichini1, Rosario Montirosso8, Linnea Karlsson4,9,10, Hasse Karlsson4,9,10, Jetro J. Tuulari4,9,10, 11
1 Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, University of Padua, Padua 35100, Italy
2 Department of Affective Psychiatry, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Sweden
3Center for Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet
4 Department of Clinical Medicine, Turku Brain and Mind Center, FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study, University of Turku, Turku 20014, Finland
5 Department of Psychiatry, Turku University Hospital, University of Turku, Turku 20014, Finland
6 Department of Radiology, University of Turku, Turku 20014, Finland
7 Department of Radiology, Turku University Hospital, Turku 20014, Finland
8 0-3 Center for the at-Risk Infant, Scientific Institute, IRCCS Eugenio Medea, Bosisio Parini 22040, Italy
9 Centre for Population Health Research, Turku University Hospital and University of Turku, Turku 20014, Finland
10 Turku Collegium for Science, Medicine and Technology, University of Turku, Turku 20014, Finland
11 Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 2JD, United Kingdom
* Isabella L.C. Mariani Wigley
Email: ilmawi@utu.fi
Running title : infants´ sex and neural correlates of affective touch
Keywords : developmental neuroscience, touch, neonates, sexual dimorphism
Author Contributions: JJT, NMS and JS collected the imaging data; JJT, MB, LK, HK conceptualized the study; JJT, JS and MB designed the study and developed the fMRI paradigm; ILCMW, JJT performed statistical analysis and wrote the original draft; ILCMW, JJT, MB contributed to fMRI data preprocessing; LK, HK founded the FinnBrain project and provided the infrastructure and funding for carrying out the study; JJT supervised the creation of the manuscript with oversight and leadership responsibility for the research activity planning and execution. All authors critically revised and accepted the manuscript it in its final form.
Competing Interest Statement: The authors declare that the research was conducted without any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.