The purpose of this study was to look at the differences between women who labour with or without epidural anaesthesia. This study was a partial replication of a study done by Poore and Foster [(1985) Epidural and no epidural anaesthesia: differences between mothers and their experience of birth, Birth, 12(4), 205-212] looking at differences in mothers and the epidural choice. Forty-six women were surveyed within 6 months of vaginal delivery. Fear of childbirth, locus of control for childbirth, desired participation in the childbirth process, and knowledge of epidural risk were assessed. Women who chose to deliver with an epidural had high fear of childbirth, an external locus of control for childbirth, and a desire for passive compliance in the childbirth process. Results also showed that women who laboured without an epidural had low fear of childbirth, an internal locus of control for childbirth, and a desire to actively participate in the childbirth process. Women who decided not to have an epidural prior to going into labour scored higher on a scale designed to assess knowledge of risks associated with epidural use. These results reveal that differences in beliefs about childbirth are related to pain control choices.Many factors contribute to the decisions a woman makes concerning her birth experience. Some of these factors include demographic and personality characteristics of the mother (Haddad, 1983;Waldenstroem, 1999), amount of support from another person who is present during labour (Cohen, 1982;Copstick et al.

This study examined whether previously reported effects of altered prenatal sensory experience on subsequent acceleration of intersensory development in precocial birds are mediated by mechanisms sensitive to the overall amount of stimulation provided. Results revealed that bobwhite quail chicks exposed to substantially augmented amounts of prenatal visual stimulation show altered patterns of species-typical perceptual development. Specifically, chicks continued to respond to maternal auditory cues into later stages of postnatal development and failed to demonstrate responsiveness to maternal visual cues. Embryos also failed to demonstrate prenatal auditory learning of an individual maternal call, a behavior reliably seen in unmanipulated embryos. These findings suggest that substantially increased amounts of prenatal sensory stimulation can interfere with the emergence of species-typical patterns of postnatal intersensory functioning and lend support to the notion that sensory stimulation that falls within some optimal range maintains or facilitates normal patterns of perceptual development, whereas stimulation beyond the range of the species norm can result in intersensory interference.

No abstract

This study examined the effects of specific types of prenatal auditory stimulation on the auditory learning capacity of bobwhite embryos (Colinus virginianus) incubated in either communal or isolation conditions. Results revealed that socially incubated embryos could learn an individual bobwhite maternal call, whereas embryos denied physical and tactile stimulation as a result of isolation incubation failed to demonstrate prenatal auditory learning of the maternal call. In contrast, embryos exposed to bobwhite chick contentment calls in the period prior to hatching demonstrated prenatal auditory learning, whether they were incubated socially or in isolation. Socially incubated and isolation-incubated embryos exposed to bobwhite chick distress calls failed to learn the individual maternal call, indicating that the type of sensory stimulation the developing organism encounters prenatally is important in fostering normal perceptual learning ability.

This study examined whether previously reported effects of altered prenatal sensory experience on subsequent acceleration of intersensory development in precocial birds are mediated by mechanisms sensitive to the overall amount of stimulation provided. Results revealed that bobwhite quail chicks exposed to substantially augmented amounts of prenatal auditory stimulation show altered patterns of species‐typical perceptual development. Specifically, chicks continued to respond to maternal auditory cues into later stages of postnatal development and failed to demonstrate responsiveness to maternal visual cues. In addition, embryos exposed to substantially augmented amounts of prenatal auditory stimulation exhibited a higher level of behavioral arousal and higher mortality rates than embryos provided either moderately augmented amounts or no additional amount of prenatal auditory stimulation. These findings suggest that substantially increased amounts of prenatal sensory stimulation can interfere with the emergence of species‐typical patterns of postnatal perceptual functioning and lend support to the notion that sensory stimulation that falls within some optimal range maintains or facilitates normal patterns of perceptual development, whereas stimulation beyond the range of the species norm can result in intrasensory and intersensory interference. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 30: 201–212, 1997