Journal Abstracts
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Historically, most studies on prenatal learning have centered upon contingency reinforcements, habituation responses, and developmental outcomes. Very little research has actually examined the learning process during the prenatal period. This case study examines the behavioral responses of one prenate to an experimental curriculum. Significant responses are noted in regards to movement. The responses appear as an organized pattern which would imply that the prenate is capable of progressing from generality and abstraction to specificity and discernment in the learning process.
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Although most societies highly value and nurture children, children in many societies may nonetheless be unwanted under certain conditions. Thus, decisions about parental investment, and social control of reproduction and pre- and perinatal survival are not solely a modern phenomenon. Many societies act to limit the incidence of pregnancy, birth and infant survival, and have done so for centuries. These societies have traditional means for controlling birth and for aborting unwanted pregnancies.
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In the 1980's parents were first introduced in large numbers to the sensitive, perceptive, conscious, and perhaps even cognitive prenate. This paper summarizes the major evidence, including recent research findings, demonstrating that prenates are 1) sensitive and aware, 2) learn and dream, and 3) are social and communicative. Well-designed research programs in prenatal enrichment confirm the intelligence and receptivity of these babies. A closing section describes the special resources now available to parents to enhance prenatal bonding and communication.
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In a village in Egypt two patterns of infant and child rearing were observed. Uneducated mothers living in extended families used a high contact style of infant rearing and child nurses to produce children who were cooperative, family oriented and highly attached to their mother. Educated women living in nuclear families used a low contact style of infant rearing and adult caretakers to produce children who were ego oriented and able to achieve independently of their family.
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Colic is a disorder of early infancy marked by excessive amounts of loud, persistent crying. Lesser amounts of crying are considered normal in infants. Neither the crying of colicky infants nor the baseline crying of normal human infants have any homologue in the vocal behavior of other mammalian infants. This human-specific cry continuum may reflect a human-specific discomfort continuum which is function of the general immaturity of human neonates. Such immaturity may be the result of selection for altricial birth forced by cephalo-pelvic incompatibility during birth.
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This article explores the impact of infant death on cultural perceptions of infancy. It employs a case study of the Cree-Ojibwa community of Fisher River, Manitoba in the early twentieth century to illustrate how a high risk of infant death can delay the point at which personhood is conferred on an infant. Further to this, the concept of infancy among the Aboriginal community is contrasted with wider Euro-Canadian values concerning the infant mortality rate.
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Decades of research on child development has confirmed that infants use specific behavioral signals to elicit maternal responses. This research has also demonstrated the importance of a fit between maternal and infant behavior for optimal psychological and cognitive development of the infant. There is now evidence from animal behavioral studies that neuroendocrine and hormonal mechanisms mediate this link between infant signaling and maternal responsiveness.
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An evolutionary perspective on human infancy suggests that the active infant, skilled at information-gathering and -prompting from adults, and at coordinating its behavior with that of adults, has been shaped by millions of years of natural selection. Infant monkeys and apes are skilled in these ways because they have to be; adults rarely donate information to them, although the contexts in which they do are likely to have evolutionary significance.
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This article, based on interviews about pregnancy, birth, childraising, and career with 31 middle-class Anglo women, examines self- and body image as microcosmic mirrors of social relationships and worldview. All interviewees are professionals in positions of power and authority. They tend to see the body as an imperfect tool that the more perfect self should control. They tend to experience pregnancy and birth as unpleasant because they are so out-of-control, and to emphasize the separation of the self from the body and from the fetus growing inside that body.
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In the 20th century, probably more people have had the experience of birth than in all previous centuries combined. The current rate is almost 10,000 births per hour. In any given nine-month period, there are about 180 million expectant parents going through a unique life-changing experience. Research and therapy focused on the prenatal and perinatal period confirms that pregnancy and birth are formative experiences for both babies and parents. Yet, in the century of maximum birthing, psychological principles and interactions have been radically altered.
