SENSATION & BEHAVIOR IN FETUS & NEWBORN

幼年哺乳动物的行为始于子宫环境， 并(通过出生)突然转变为明显不同的 出生后环境。我们提出了一项研究计划，旨在 阐明大鼠在胚胎晚期和早期的感觉体验 出生后环境-围产期(EL5-P5)-作为 行为组织的起源。建议的实验测试 感觉发展的假说来自于 胎儿在子宫环境中，并从相应的适应 新生儿在出生后新生儿利基中遇到的挑战， 分娩后立即分娩。从这个角度来看，我们建议 确定触觉、化学物质、前庭和 热感官。感觉功能将通过心率和 行为反应。基于个体发育适应分析 他们的发育生态位，我们假设并测试预测的模式 通道间敏感性的发展，以及通道内的成熟 不同的身体区域。孕期和孕期行为的新研究 哺乳大鼠将有助于识别刺激的种类和数量 后代通常会暴露在环境中。这些实验应该建立一个 胎儿和新生儿心理生物学的理论框架数据库 生命将支持对早期行为结构和 学习。建议的研究可以对我们的 对神经生物学发展和应用问题的基本理解 关于早产儿和高危人类婴儿的护理和管理。

The behavioral life of a young mammal begins within a uterine environment, and makes an abrupt transition (via birth) to a markedly different postnatal environment. We propose a program of research designed to elucidate sensory experience in the rat during late fetal and early postnatal environment - the perinatal period (El5-P5) - as a key to the origins of behavioral organization. The proposed experiments test hypotheses of sensory development derived from adaptive problems faced by the fetus in the uterine environment, and from corresponding adaptational challenges encountered by the newborn in the postnatal neonatal niche, immediately after parturition. From this perspective, we propose to determine onsets of function for the tactile, chemical, vestibular, and thermal senses. Sensory function will be measured by heartrate and behavioral responses. Based on analyses of ontogenetic adaptations to their developmental niches, we hypothesize and test predicted patterns of inter-modal development of sensitivity, and intra-modal maturation in different body regions. Novel studies of behavior of pregnant and lactating rats will help identify kinds and amounts of stimulation to which offspring are normally exposed. These experiments should establish a theoretically-framed database on the psychobiology of fetal and neonatal life that will support additional studies of early behavioral structure and learning. The proposed research can make significant contributions to our basic understanding of neurobiological development, and to applied issues concerning care and management of premature and at-risk human infants.