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Published on: November 29, 2017
Neonatal control of nutritive sucking pressure: evidence for an intrinsic tau-guide
1UMR Mouvement and Perception, Université de la Méditerranée, Marseille, France. craig@laps.univ-mrs.fr
Insights
Newborns regulate bottle-feeding sucking pressure using an internal dynamic prototype, the intrinsic tau-guide. This time-varying control mechanism, mirroring adult skilled movements, ensures precise pressure regulation for effective infant feeding.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Biology
- Biomechanics
Background:
- Human newborns exhibit sophisticated motor control during bottle feeding.
- Previous research suggests adult-like principles of control in infant skilled behavior.
- The general tau theory proposes an internal dynamic prototype for motor control.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the control principles underlying intraoral sucking pressure regulation in newborn infants.
- To test the hypothesis that infants utilize an intrinsic tau-guide for sucking pressure control.
- To examine the relationship between intraoral pressure and the hypothesized tau-guide during feeding.
Main Methods:
- Studied 12 full-term newborn infants during bottle feeding.
- Measured intraoral sucking pressures.
- Analyzed pressure data using the general tau theory and the intrinsic tau-guide hypothesis.
- Regressed tau(p) (sensed tau) on tau(g) (intrinsic tau-guide) to assess coupling.
Main Results:
- Infant intraoral sucking pressures followed an intrinsic tau-guide.
- A strong coupling (high r2 values) was found between sensed tau (tau(p)) and the intrinsic tau-guide (tau(g)).
- The coupling ratio (k) was significantly higher during the increasing suction phase, indicating more forceful pressure regulation.
Conclusions:
- Newborns regulate sucking pressure using an intrinsic tau-guide, consistent with general tau theory.
- This control mechanism demonstrates a sophisticated, time-based regulation principle in early infant development.
- The findings suggest a unified control strategy across different skilled motor behaviors from infancy to adulthood.
Abstract:
Human newborns appear to regulate sucking pressure when bottle feeding by employing, with similar precision, the same principle of control evidenced by adults in skilled behavior, such as reaching (Lee et al., 1998a). In particular, the present study of 12 full-term newborn infants indicated that the intraoral sucking pressures followed an internal dynamic prototype - an intrinsic tau-guide. The intrinsic tau-guide, a recent hypothesis of general tau theory is a time-varying quantity, tau(g), assumed to be generated within the nervous system. It corresponds to some quantity (e.g., electrical charge), changing with a constant second-order temporal derivative from a rest level to a goal level, in the sense that tau(g) equals tau of the gap between the quantity and its goal level at each time t. (tau of a gap is the time-to-closure of the gap at the current closure-rate.) According to the hypothesis, the infant senses tau(p), the tau of the gap between the current intraoral pressure and its goal level, and regulates intraoral pressure so that tau(p) and tau(g), remain coupled in a constant ratio, k; i.e., tau(p)=k tau(g). With k in the range 0-1, the tau-coupling would result in a bell-shaped rate of change pressure profile, as was, in fact, found. More specifically, the high mean r2 values obtained when regressing tau(p) on tau(g), for both the increasing and decreasing suction periods of the infants' suck, supported a strong tau-coupling between tau(p) and tau(g). The mean k values were significantly higher in the increasing suction period, indicating that the ending of the movement was more forceful, a finding which makes sense given the different functions of the two periods of the suck.
