Triggers for mother love

Previous studies showed that baby monkeys separated from their mothers develop strong and lasting attachments to inanimate surrogate mothers, but only if the surrogate has a soft texture; soft texture is more important for the infant’s attachment than is the provision of milk. Here I report that pos...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS 2022-09, Vol.119 (39), p.1-5
Main Author: Livingstone, Margaret S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accessories
Attachment
Biological Sciences
INAUGURAL ARTICLE
Infants
Monkeys
Sensory integration
Social Sciences
Texture
Visual stimuli
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Summary:Previous studies showed that baby monkeys separated from their mothers develop strong and lasting attachments to inanimate surrogate mothers, but only if the surrogate has a soft texture; soft texture is more important for the infant’s attachment than is the provision of milk. Here I report that postpartum female monkeys also form strong and persistent attachments to inanimate surrogate infants, that the template for triggering maternal attachment is also tactile, and that even a brief period of attachment formation can dominate visual and auditory cues indicating a more appropriate target.
ISSN:0027-8424
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.2212224119