Body maps in the infant brain

•Body representations in the human brain are studied chiefly in adults.•Recent discoveries are shedding light on body maps in the infant brain.•Infant neural body maps underlie early connections between self and other.•Studies of infant neural body maps may illuminate certain developmental disorders.

Researchers have examined representations of the body in the adult brain but relatively little attention has been paid to ontogenetic aspects of neural body maps in human infants. Novel applications of methods for recording brain activity in infants are delineating cortical body maps in the first months of life. Body maps may facilitate infants’ registration of similarities between self and other – an ability that is foundational to developing social cognition. Alterations in interpersonal aspects of body representations might also contribute to social deficits in certain neurodevelopmental disorders.