The development of behavior before birth.

Abstract

Study of the fetus in vivo provides a simple system for experimental study of early neurobehavioral development. This review summarizes research on the development of behavior before birth including studies where fetuses are exposed to stimuli that mimic features of the neonatal environment, such as milk and an artificial nipple. These stimuli reliably evoke responses from fetal subjects, including species-typical behavior such as the stretch response and oral grasping of the artificial nipple. Contingent presentations of the nipple and milk can result in classical conditioning, including activation of the endogenous opioid system. Quantitative analysis of fetal motor behavior coupled with the use of ecologically relevant sensory manipulations provide a means for assessing integrated output of the developing nervous system.A general article with the title "The Development of Behavior Before Birth" implies a number of topics that might be discussed. One may anticipate that such an article would provide an historical overview of the field of behavioral embryology or a survey of the diverse approaches used to measure behavior in utero. Recent reviews have appeared that have adequately described historical context (Oppenheim, 1982(Oppenheim, , 1992 and research methods that currently are permitting study of prenatal behavioral development (Nijhuis, 1992;Smotherman & Robinson, 1988a), so these issues will not be addressed in the present report. Alternatively, one might expect such an article to pose speculative scenarios for prenatal learning or cognition, or to suggest how parents can interact with the fetus within the womb. The subject of prenatal enrichment has received widespread attention in the popular press, but dubious claims by authors and marketeers actually may have impeded empirical investigation of fetal behavioral capacities. Rather than belaboring issues that have been adequately addressed elsewhere, or which do not merit scientific discussion, this article will focus on the findings and implications that have emerged from experimental study of fetal behavior, primarily in nonhuman species. It is our thesis that the mammalian fetus is interesting in its own right because it exhibits a rich and sophisticated behavioral repertoire Smotherman & Robinson, 1990), and that study of the mechanisms that regulate behavior in the nonhuman fetus can provide unique insights into the general rules that direct neurobehavioral development and the research methods needed to identify them (Robinson & Smotherman, 1988;Smotherman & Robinson, 1988b, 1994a.

Neurobehavioral assessment before birth

“…Concepts of spatial use, timing, and force have been applied to fetal actions by physical and occupational therapists [Green and Sparling, 1993]. Animal models have provided developmental psychobiologists with a rubric to investigate the ontogeny and adaptive significance of specific behaviors prior to birth [Smotherman and Robinson, 1996]. Fetal motor activity level has been quantified by developmental investigators interested in the activity dimension of temperament [DiPietro et al, 1996c;Eaton and Saudino, 1992] and as a means of determining intrinsic properties of periodicity within the developing motor system [Robertson, 1985].…”

Maternally directed orienting behaviors of newborn rats

“…Fetuses curled and stretched more in the bath than in utero, suggesting that the confines of the uterine walls restrict their expression. Reasoning that fetal curling and stretching could be developmental precursors of neonatal MDOBs (see Smotherman & Robinson, 1996 for discussion of prenatal antecedents of postnatal behavior), the postnatal forms might be expected to be reduced under the roof.…”

LIFESPAN PSYCHOLOGY: Theory and Application to Intellectual Functioning

“…We assume that the pragmatics of cognition build on, extend, and reorganize prestructured core domains (Wellman & Gelman 1992) associated with the cognitive mechanics and their foundation in the biological nature of the human processing system (Saffran et al 1996, Smotherman & Robinson 1996, Spelke et al 1995. For instance, pragmatic knowledge may evolve from or mimic predisposed knowledge in evolutionarily privileged domains, but come with the advantage of being tuned to the idiosyncratic demands of specific cultures, biographies, and contexts (Siegler & Crowley 1994).…”