Dettmer, Amanda M.Kaburu, Stefano S. K.Simpson, Elizabeth A.Paukner, AnnikaSclafani, ValentinaByers, Kristen L.Murphy, Ashley M.Miller, MichelleMarquez, NealMiller, Grace M.Suomi, Stephen J.Ferrari, Pier F.2019-02-222019-02-222016-06-14Dettmer, 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. and Ferrari, P.F. (2016) ‘Neonatal face-to-face interactions promote later social behaviour in infant rhesus monkeys’, Nature Communications, 7 (1) DOI: 10.1038/ncomms119402041-172310.1038/ncomms11940http://hdl.handle.net/2436/622131In 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.application/PDFenAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United Stateshttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/Mother-infant interactionrhesus macaqueface-to-face interactioninfant developmentJournal articleNature Communications