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Assessment and Evaluation of the High Risk Neonate: The NICU Network Neurobehavioral Scale
Published on: August 25, 2014
Neonatal brainstem dysfunction risks infant social engagement
Ronny Geva1, Koreen Sopher, Lea Kurtzman
1Department of Psychology, The Gonda Brain Research Center, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan 52900, Israel. Ronny.Geva@biu.ac.il
Insights
Neonatal brainstem function, measured by auditory brainstem-evoked responses (ABRs), influences early social engagement in preterm infants. Healthy brainstem transmission may support the development of social behaviors, reflecting an evolutionary role.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
- Evolutionary Biology
Background:
- The brainstem's role in social signaling is established in ancestral species.
- Understanding its function in human infants offers insights into human social evolution.
- Premature birth may impact early neurodevelopment and social engagement.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between neonatal brainstem functioning and social engagement in preterm infants.
- To explore the evolutionary role of the brainstem in human social development.
- To assess how auditory brainstem-evoked responses (ABRs) correlate with social interaction behaviors at 4 months corrected age.
Main Methods:
- A longitudinal study involving 125 healthy preterm neonates (born before 35 weeks' gestational age).
- Auditory brainstem-evoked responses (ABRs) were measured in neonates.
- At 4 months corrected age, infants' social engagement was assessed via structured vignettes, with cardiac vagal tone also measured.
Main Results:
- Neonates with disrupted ABRs (delayed wave V) showed shorter latencies to gaze aversion during face-to-face interactions.
- These infants engaged gaze normally with masked or partially veiled agents.
- Analysis revealed a main effect of ABR and an ABR by gestational age interaction on social engagement.
Conclusions:
- The integrity of brainstem sensory transmission in late gestation may scaffold social disengagement skills.
- This finding supports the brainstem's conserved evolutionary role in human social development.
- Early brainstem function is critical for modulating social engagement behaviors in infants.
Abstract:
The role of the brainstem in mediating social signaling in phylogenetic ancestral organisms has been demonstrated. Evidence for its involvement in social engagement in human infants may deepen the understanding of the evolutionary pathway of humans as social beings. In this longitudinal study, neonatal brainstem functioning was measured by auditory brainstem-evoked responses (ABRs) in 125 healthy neonates born prematurely before 35 weeks' gestational age. At 4 months, infants were tested in a set of structured vignettes that required varying levels of social engagement and cardiac vagal tone was assessed. Data show that neonates with a disrupted I-V waveform, evident mostly by delayed wave V, exhibit shorter latencies to gaze averts in episodes involving direct face-to-face interactions but engage gaze as controls when interacting with masked agents or with agents whose faces are partly veiled by toys. Analysis of variance of infants' social engagement with ABR, neonatal risk, maternal stress and cardiac vagal tone showed a main effect for ABR and an ABR by gestational age interaction. The integrity of brainstem transmission of sensory information during the final weeks of gestation may scaffold the development of social disengagement, thereby attesting to the brainstem's preserved evolutionary role in developing humans as social organisms prior to engaging in social encounters.
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