Skin-to-skin Contact in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), Caregiving Touch and Neural Correlates of Slow Stroking Touch in Preterm Infants

Infants will undergo an MRI exam with a 3 Tesla Philips Achieva scanner and a 32-channel head coil. MRI Protocol: T1 weighted image structural, T2 weighted image structural, fMRI task. Task fMRI: experiment will be implemented using the block design is as follow: 1.Rest (control condition): no touch; 2.Soft touch (stimulus condition): gentle strokes on infant's right leg (\~15 cm area) with a soft brush at a velocity of \~5 cm/s Stimulus blocks will last for \~15s, allowing the blood-oxygen-level-dependen (BOLD) signal to reach the steady state. Control blocks duration will be randomized (10-18s) to avoid foresee activation phenomena. Condition will be administered multiple times (\~10 times). Two run will be administered. The stimulus will be administered using a soft brush. A regular audio signal will help the operator to keep a constant stroke velocity. Audio commands will also be used to direct the operator. Infant must be asleep (natural sleep) during the fMRI acquisition.