In both primate groups, baby touching was associated with shared caregiving and moments of joint attention

By Fernanda Zibordi (Jornal da USP)

Before humans develop speech, they are already able to communicate through sounds, expressions, and gestures. Babies, who are taking their first steps in social interactions, use their bodies to interact and engage with the world around them, and touch is among the most common actions in this context. This is why an article published in the scientific journal Animal Cognition sought to document the touches of human and chimpanzee babies on the faces of other individuals. The study observed different groups to verify the importance of social touch in the development of primate offspring.

Social touch can be defined as any behavior of physical contact between at least two beings that involves some engagement. “Hugs, hand-holding, and affection are all social touches, which are not always positive,” says Beatriz Felicio, one of the authors of the article. Touches are subject to subjectivity, as their interpretation and meaning can vary depending on the situation.

Beatriz Felicio, a PhD student in Experimental Psychology at USP’s Institute of Psychology (IP), focused her master’s degree on the importance of facial touches in populations of capuchin monkeys. Because of the small number of studies on the subject, the researcher decided to delve deeper into it and extend the investigation to humans and chimpanzees. The research, funded by the São Paulo State Research Foundation (Fapesp), was to see if social touch was already important for infants of possible common ancestors between the capuchin monkey and hominids.

Read the full news article at https://jornal.usp.br/uspnews/Facial-touch-plays-a-role-in-the-social-development-of-human-and-chimpanzee-babies/