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Updated: Jan 4, 2026
Infant Auditory Processing and Event-related Brain Oscillations
Published on: July 1, 2015
Event-related potentials following contraction of respiratory muscles in pre-term and full-term infants
Kimberley Whitehead1, Laura Jones1, Maria Pureza Laudiano-Dray1
1Department of Neuroscience, Physiology and Pharmacology, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom.
Insights
Newborn hiccups provide important sensory input to the developing brain. This study shows that the brain encodes diaphragm contractions, like hiccups, in pre-term and full-term infants.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Neuroscience
- Neonatal Physiology
Background:
- Involuntary body movements are common in infants.
- Limb muscle contractions generate brain responses via sensory feedback.
- Hiccups, involuntary diaphragm contractions, are frequent in neonates.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if diaphragm contractions (hiccups) provide afferent input to the developing brain in infants.
- To determine if the brain encodes hiccup-related sensory information.
Main Methods:
- EEG activity was recorded in 13 infants (30-42 weeks corrected gestational age).
- EEG was time-locked to diaphragm contractions detected by a trunk movement transducer.
- Analysis focused on event-related potentials following diaphragm contractions.
Main Results:
- Hiccups occurred during wakefulness and active sleep.
- Each diaphragm contraction elicited distinct event-related potentials in the EEG.
- These brain responses indicated the encoding of diaphragm activity.
Conclusions:
- The infant brain can encode involuntary diaphragm contractions from early in development.
- Hiccups serve as a source of afferent sensory input to developing sensory cortices in neonates.
Objective:
Involuntary isolated body movements are prominent in pre-term and full-term infants. Proprioceptive and tactile afferent feedback following limb muscle contractions is associated with somatotopic EEG responses. Involuntary contractions of respiratory muscles, primarily the diaphragm - hiccups - are also frequent throughout the human perinatal period during active behavioural states. Here we tested whether diaphragm contraction provides afferent input to the developing brain, as following limb muscle contraction.
Methods:
In 13 infants on the neonatal ward (30-42 weeks corrected gestational age), we analysed EEG activity (18-electrode recordings in six subjects; 17-electrode recordings in five subjects; 16-electrode recordings in two subjects), time-locked to diaphragm contractions (n = 1316) recorded with a movement transducer affixed to the trunk.
Results:
All bouts of hiccups occurred during wakefulness or active sleep. Each diaphragm contraction evoked two initial event-related potentials with negativity predominantly across the central region, and a third event-related potential with positivity maximal across the central region.
Conclusions:
Involuntary contraction of the diaphragm can be encoded by the brain from as early as ten weeks prior to the average time of birth.
Significance:
Hiccups - frequently observed in neonates - can provide afferent input to developing sensory cortices in pre-term and full-term infants.
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