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.