Abstract
Preschoolers (Mage = 4 years, 4 months) were given WPPSI subtests, including Block Design, Animal Pegs and Mazes, before and after receiving a 15-minute massage or spending 15 minutes reading stories with an experimenter. Results revealed that performance on Block Design improved following massage and accuracy was greater on Animal Pegs in the massage group, particularly in more temperamental children.
*This research was supported by an NIMH Research Scientist Award (#MH00331) and an NIMH Research Grant (#MH46586) to Tiffany Field and a grant from Johnson and Johnson to the Touch Research Institute. The authors wish to thank the children, parents and teachers for participating in this study. We also thank Claudia Thyssen and the volunteer massage therapists for helping with data collection.