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Le bâillement : de l'éthologie à la médecine clinique
Le bâillement : phylogenèse, éthologie, nosogénie
 Le bâillement : un comportement universel
La parakinésie brachiale oscitante
Yawning: its cycle, its role
Warum gähnen wir ?
 
Fetal yawning assessed by 3D and 4D sonography
Le bâillement foetal
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 Le bâillement, du réflexe à la pathologie
Le bâillement : de l'éthologie à la médecine clinique
Le bâillement : phylogenèse, éthologie, nosogénie
 Le bâillement : un comportement universel
La parakinésie brachiale oscitante
Yawning: its cycle, its role
Warum gähnen wir ?
 
Fetal yawning assessed by 3D and 4D sonography
Le bâillement foetal
Le bâillement, du réflexe à la pathologie
Le bâillement : de l'éthologie à la médecine clinique
Le bâillement : phylogenèse, éthologie, nosogénie
 Le bâillement : un comportement universel
La parakinésie brachiale oscitante
Yawning: its cycle, its role
Warum gähnen wir ?
 
Fetal yawning assessed by 3D and 4D sonography
Le bâillement foetal
http://www.baillement.com

 

 

mise à jour du
12/06/2015
PlosOne
June 8, 2015
Fetal Behavioural Response
to Maternal Voice and Touch
Viola Marx, Emese Nagy 
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Although there is data on the spontaneous behavioural repertoire of the fetus, studies on their behavioural responses to external stimulation are scarce.
 
The aim of the current study was to measure fetal behavioural responses in reaction to maternal voice; to maternal touch of the abdomen compared to a control condition, utilizing 3D real-time (4D) sonography. Behavioural responses of 23 fetuses (21st to 33rd week of gestation; N = 10 in the 2nd and N = 13 in the 3rd trimester) were frame-by-frame coded and analyzed in the three conditions.
 
Results showed that fetuses displayed more arm, head, and mouth movements when the mother touched her abdomen and decreased their arm and head movements to maternal voice. Fetuses in the 3rd trimester showed increased regulatory (yawning), resting (arms crossed) and self-touch (hands touching the body) responses to the stimuli when compared to fetuses in the 2nd trimester.
 
In summary, the results from this study suggest that fetuses selectively respond to external stimulation earlier than previously reported, fetuses actively regulated their behaviours as a response to the external stimulation, and that fetal maturation affected the emergence of these differential responses to the environment.
 
Introduction
 
The mother was once regarded as a vehicle, a conduit for nutrition and waste removal for the fetus that lived isolated from the outside world [1&endash;4]. Recent research using ultrasound techniques however, started to accumulate evidence on the impact of the external world on the fetus [2&endash;8].
 
Newborns preferentially respond to maternal voice hours after birth [9&endash;13], suggesting that the fetus is able to detect stimuli in utero and form memories of them. The earliest fetal responses to sound were reported at 16 weeks of gestation [14], much before the development of the fetal ear is complete.
 
Previous studies on fetal responses to maternal voice measured changes in fetal heart rate (FHR) and lead to inconclusive results. Kisilevsky et al. [15&endash;16] found an increase, whereas [17] and [18] reported a decrease in FHR in response to maternal voice. An increase in FHR might indicate an arousal response, whereas a decrease may suggest a possible orientating mechanism to maternal voice [11]. Hepper, Scott, & Shahidullah [19] however, found that the voice of the mother affected FHR the same way as did the voice of a female stranger with no differential FHR.
 
A possible reason for the varying outcomes of these studies might be due to methodological differences. It is likely that presenting the maternal voice indirectly such as recorded voice and via headphones, rather than through bone and fluid conduction within the body as it happens with natural speech, may result in an altered sound experience for the fetus. Indeed, when Hepper et al. [19] administered maternal voice both 'in situ' and pre-recorded, they found that fetuses at 36 weeks of gestational age (GA) increased FHR responses to the recording but not to natural maternal voice.
 
Proprioception, sensitivity to touch, develops from 8 weeks GA and by 32 weeks GA most of the body is sensitive to the light stroke of a feather [20]. Previous research reported increases in FHR to vibration from 26 weeks GA with stable and consistent FHR increase by 32 weeks GA [21]. It was also reported that in early pregnancy fetuses tend to move away from stimuli that touch their bodies, whereas later on they tend to move towards them [22].
 
In summary, previous studies show a) inconclusive results on FHR to maternal voice and b) that although the fetus is sensitive to proprioceptive stimulation and maternal touch on the abdomen is a very commonly occurring natural stimulus for the fetus, there is currently no research which has investigated the effect of maternal touch of the abdomen on fetal responses. Additionally, although there are reports on the spontaneous behavioural repertoire of the fetus, such as fine and gross motor movements, facial expressions, self-touch and yawning [23&endash;25], studies on behavioural responses to external stimulation are scarce.
 
The aim of the current study was to measure fetal behavioural responses in reaction to maternal voice in situ and tomaternal touch of the abdomen as well as in control, no sound, no touch, utilizing 3D real-time (4D) sonography. Based on previous research [18&endash;19], it is hypothesised that fetuses will exhibit a similar attentional orientation-response to that of the newborn [26]. Although no prior research on fetal behavioural responses to maternal touch exists, it is expected that fetuses, in particular older fetuses [22] will respond to touch with a selective increase in movement, when compared to a control condition with no stimulation or to maternal voice.
 
Discussion
 
While previous research has mainly focused on FHR responses in reaction to maternal voice the current study measured fetal behavioural responses to three conditions: to maternal touch of the abdomen, to maternal voice compared to a control condition.
 
Overall results suggest that maternal touch of the abdomen was a powerful stimulus, producing a range of fetal behavioural responses. Fetuses displayed more arm, head, and mouth movements when the mother touched her abdomen as compared to maternal voice in situ. The increase in their activity was also indicated indirectly by the decrease of arm crossing movements in older fetuses. The difference in the responses by older and younger fetuses to maternal touch may lend support to the early observation of [22] that older fetuses respond preferentially to touch compared to younger fetuses.
 
As younger fetuses were in the second trimester, the results of this study also indicate that fetuses respond to touch much earlier than previously described [21]: in the 21st-25th week rather in the 26th week of gestation.
 
Just like armand hand movements of neonates are far from being random [29, 30], previous research [30] suggests that fetal hand and arm movements might also be directed and intentional [31, 32,33]. Although it is speculative to suggest, it might well be that the increases in armmovements in response to maternal touch are also directed responses towards the source of the stimulation [34].
 
The decrease in arm and head movements as a response to maternal voice supports the results of [14] using direct maternal voice to stimulate the fetus. The authors reported a decrease in FHR to maternal voice in situ as well as an increase in FHR to recorded voice. Although the current study did not use recorded voice, the behavioural quieting to maternal in situ voice corresponds to the physiological response of decreased FHR measured by [14] as well as to the orienting physiological response [26, 17].
 
Our study also reported an interesting behavioural change with maturation, from the 2nd to the 3rd trimester. Regardless of the experimental condition, fetuses in the 3rd trimester displayed more self-touch (hands touching the body) when compared to fetuses in 2nd trimester. This observed increase in self-touch might be due to the increased tactile sensitivity of the skin as fetuses develop. As a consequence fetuses may seek out proprioceptive stimulation just as neonates were reported to do [35].
 
Fetuses in the 3rd trimester also spend more time with crossed arms compared to fetuses in the 2nd trimester. This behaviour most likely indicates that the fetus is resting, and if so, this finding is in support of previous findings [23], which reported an overall decrease of movements as fetuses mature. However as the fetus grows rapidly during the third trimester, the uterine environment becomes increasingly smaller limiting fetal motor behaviour. Therefore less movement and more touching the body was to be expected. It is also space saving to fold the arms in front of the body during rest. However, fetuses in 3rd trimester cross their arms more often in response to maternal voice as compared to the touch condition. This behaviour is one of the behaviour activity responses to maternal touch, thus a decrease in arm-crossing behaviour might be a consequence of the increase of other, arm, head, mouth movements and indicates an increased activity of the fetus.
 
Older, third trimester fetuses yawned more during maternal voice stimulation compared to the control condition and also showed a tendency to yawn more during maternal touch. Fetuses in the 2nd trimester, however, showed no differential change in their yawning. The observed increase of yawning in older fetuses stands in contrast to reports [24], who found a decrease rather than an increase in yawning frequencies from 28 weeks of pregnancy. Although the mechanisms and functions of fetal yawning are still unexplored most recent theories suggest its connection to activity dependent brain maturation of regulatory behaviours [25]. Overall increased regulatory (yawning), resting (arms crossed) and self-touch responses to external stimuli were observed among older fetuses. Such results could reflect the maturation process of the nervous system as the fetus develops.
 
In summary, the results from this study suggest that fetuses selectively respond to external stimulation earlier than previously reported, fetuses actively regulate their behaviours as a response to the external stimulation, and that fetal maturation affects the emergence of such differential responses to the environment.
 
Mothers, fathers and other family members talk and even sing to the fetus throughout pregnancy with communicative intent. Many report changes in the fetal behaviour as a response to such communication. And although we used the term 'touch', the condition however was not direct skin-to-skin contact but an indirect stimulation of the fetus via stroking the abdomen applying slight pressure. Similarly to talking to the fetus, most mothers and even fathers attempt to communicate with and regulate the behaviour of the fetus via stroking of the mother's abdomen as a response to the kicking or positional movements of the fetus. Even the expecting mothers' mood is affected by massaging the abdomen resulting in reduced depression [36].
 
As earlier research by Zoia et al [31, 33] showed, the kinematic patterns of the movements of fetuses reflect intentional actions, and advanced motor planning, therefore it is plausible to suggest that the observed fetal responses to the voice and touch in the present study may have a communicative intent.