Sensory performances in the human foetus : a brief summary of research

Lecanuet, Jean-Pierre; Schaal, Benoı̂st

doi:10.3406/intel.2002.1072

Cited by 18 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 125 publications

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“…Future studies should be targeted toward (a) reconciling strikingly different neural response patterns and the largely similar self‐reported affective judgments of textured stimuli; (b) characterizing neural responses to more directly social versus nonsocial tactile stimulation; as well as addressing (c) individual differences; and (d) the neural signatures of touch in younger samples. The early development of the somatosensory system [Lecanuet & Schaal, ] and predictive value of tactile responsiveness in infants for later development of ASD [Baranek, ] make neural differences in somatosensory responses a promising candidate for an early biomarker for a subgroup of individuals with ASD.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perceptual and Neural Response to Affective Tactile Texture Stimulation in Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders

et al. 2012

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Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are associated with differences in sensory sensitivity and affective response to sensory stimuli, the neural basis of which is still largely unknown. We used psychophysics and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate responses to somatosensory stimulation with three textured surfaces that spanned a range of roughness and pleasantness in a sample of adults with ASD and a control group. While psychophysical ratings of roughness and pleasantness were largely similar across the two groups, the ASD group gave pleasant and unpleasant textures more extreme average ratings than did controls. In addition, their ratings for a neutral texture were more variable than controls, indicating they are less consistent in evaluating a stimulus that is affectively ambiguous. Changes in brain blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) signal in response to stimulation with these textures differed substantially between the groups, with the ASD group exhibiting diminished responses compared to the control group, particularly for pleasant and neutral textures. For the most unpleasant texture, the ASD group exhibited greater BOLD response than controls in affective somatosensory processing areas such as the posterior cingulate cortex and the insula. The amplitude of response in the insula in response to the unpleasant texture was positively correlated with social impairment as measured by the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R). These results suggest that people with ASD tend to show diminished response to pleasant and neutral stimuli, and exaggerated limbic responses to unpleasant stimuli, which may contribute to diminished social reward associated with touch, perpetuating social withdrawal, and aberrant social development.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perceptual and Neural Response to Affective Tactile Texture Stimulation in Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders

et al. 2012

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“…But even if one were to assume no innate linguistic knowledge in humans, the language-learning newborn still would not be a blank slate. The fetal auditory system begins functioning during the third trimester of pregnancy, allowing some environmental sounds (including a low-pass filtered version of the mother's voice) to pass through the mother's body to the womb (e.g., Lecanuet & Schaal 2002). This allows the human fetus to get a jumpstart on learning her native language by eavesdropping on her mother in the months preceding birth (Saffran et al 2006).…”

Section: The Beginning Statementioning

confidence: 99%

Constructing a Proto-Lexicon: An Integrative View of Infant Language Development

Johnson

2016

Annu. Rev. Linguist.

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Infants begin learning the phonological structure of their native language remarkably early and use this information to extract word-sized chunks from the speech signal. While acquiring the language-specific segmentation strategies appropriate for their native language, infants are simultaneously beginning to form word-object pairings and learning which sound contrasts are meaningful in the native language. They are also working out how to assign words to word classes, paying attention to the use and placement of function words, and learning how speakers of the language string words together to form sensible grammatical utterances. Amazingly, infants tackle all of these tasks simultaneously, with success in each of these domains dependent on success in the others. This review focuses on infants' discovery of word forms in speech, their construction of a proto-lexicon, and the development of linguistic knowledge during their first year and a half of life. By discussing the development of lexical knowledge in relation to other aspects of linguistic development, I demonstrate the advantages of an integrative approach to understanding early language acquisition.

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“…But, in recent decades, a growing body of evidence, based on numerous studies on the perceptual and cognitive abilities of fetuses and newborns, has demonstrated that sensory systems are relatively mature at (term) birth, at both peripheral and central levels (for reviews: e.g. [2], [3], [4], [5], [6]). There are different possible explanations for this early undervaluation: one main aspect is that neonates are non-verbal individuals, which means that the initial assessment of their sensory abilities was made by adults caretakers that did not necessarily share the same sensory world; moreover, the immaturity of neonates may have been overestimated, by supposing a priori limited sensory and cognitive skills; and at the same time, there were technological limitations that prevented the direct observation of fetal behavior and the study of infant brain function.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Higher tactile sensitivity in preterm infants at term-equivalent age: A pilot study

André¹,

Durier²,

Beuchée

et al. 2020

PLoS ONE

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Despite a growing body of research on perinatal sensory abilities, data on the extent of tactile sensitivity and more particularly passive touch (i.e. sensitivity to a stimulation imposed on the skin) are relatively limited, and the development and processing of tactile function are still thus little known. This question is particularly of high importance for infants with atypical early development such as those born prematurely who are exposed to many sensory (including tactile) stimulations (being in a hospital setting) during a critical period of brain development and those born at early term whose birth occurs at the precise time of cortical reorganization, in particular in the sensory areas. Some parents and health-care providers have for instance reported that children born prematurely exhibit atypical (e.g. higher) sensitivity to "benign" tactile stimuli. In the present study, we hypothesized that preterm and earlyterm infants may show altered tactile sensitivity. We compared the behavioral responses around term-equivalent age of infants born either pre-term, early-term or at term to the application of a light (0.008 grams) mechanical stimulus. We found that almost all preterm infants perceive this tactile stimulus, contrarily to the two other groups of infants. This extreme tactile sensitivity may be due to experiential, maturational or more likely both processes. We also compared the tactile sensitivity of these infants to that of adults. We found that adults were irresponsive to the light mechanical stimulus. This finding opens not only new insights in understanding development of tactile processing, but also new lines of thought about the particular sensory world of premature and early-term infants and hence about the potential impact of early care practices.

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Sensory performances in the human foetus : a brief summary of research

Cited by 18 publications

References 125 publications

Perceptual and Neural Response to Affective Tactile Texture Stimulation in Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Perceptual and Neural Response to Affective Tactile Texture Stimulation in Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Constructing a Proto-Lexicon: An Integrative View of Infant Language Development

Higher tactile sensitivity in preterm infants at term-equivalent age: A pilot study

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