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Neurobehavioral organization of the newborn: opportunity for assessment and intervention
1Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.
Insights
This study introduces a functional model and assessments (APIB and K-Box Paradigm) to measure infant behavioral individuality. These individual differences in behavioral functioning are hypothesized to be brain-based and influenced by environmental factors.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Behavioral Science
Background:
- Infant individuality in behavioral functioning is complex.
- Understanding the interplay of behavioral subsystems is crucial for assessing development.
- Existing models may not fully capture the dynamic nature of infant behavior.
Purpose of the Study:
- To formulate a functional model of infant behavioral subsystems.
- To develop systematic assessments (APIB and K-Box Paradigm) based on this model.
- To quantify behavioral individuality and its modulation in infants.
Main Methods:
- Development of a functional model specifying behavioral subsystems.
- Creation of the APIB (Assessment of Premotor Integration in the Newborn) and K-Box Paradigm.
- Quantification of behavioral differentiation and modulation using these assessments.
Main Results:
- The model allows for the specification of behavioral subsystems.
- The APIB and K-Box Paradigm provide quantitative measures of behavioral functioning.
- Individual differences in behavioral organization and flexibility are documented.
Conclusions:
- The developed model and assessments offer a framework for understanding infant behavioral individuality.
- Hypothesized brain-based origins of these behavioral differences are supported.
- Environmental influences on neurodevelopment and behavior are acknowledged.
Abstract:
A functional model has been formulated that attempts to specify the behavioral subsystems of functioning that exemplify in their respective interplay an infant's individuality of behavioral functioning in the manner in which they move from stable to disorganized functioning and in the flexibility with which they maintain organized functioning in the face of varied exogenous and endogenous events. Based on this model, Als and colleagues have attempted to develop systematic assessments, the APIB and the K-Box Paradigm, to quantify the degree of differentiation and modulation of these behaviorally defined subsystems of functioning. It is hypothesized that the differences documented via these assessments are brain based (i.e., part of the child's biological makeup, which is influenced by the intrauterine and extrauterine environment, be it sensory and/or drug exposure, and which shows a recognizable pattern along a definable trajectory).