Fetal movements: the origin of human behaviour

Abstract

The study of the onset and ontogeny of human behaviour has made it clear that a multitude of fetal movement patterns are spontaneously generated, and that there is a close association between activity and the development of peripheral and central structures. The embryo starts moving by 7.5 week’s gestation; 2 to 3 weeks later, a number of movement patterns including general movements, isolated limb and head movements, hiccup, and breathing movements, appear. Some movements (e.g. yawning, smiling, ‘pointing’; we show these in eight videos in this review) precede life‐long patterns; others have intrauterine functions, such as sucking/swallowing for amniotic fluid regulation, breathing movements for lung development, or eye movements for retinal cell diversity. In cases of developmental brain dysfunction, fetal general movements alter their sequence and gestalt, which suggests a dysfunction of the developing nervous system. The scarcity of longitudinal studies calls for further comprehensive research on the predictive value of prenatal functional deviations. Motor output can occur in the absence of sensory input. Structural development is activity‐dependent. Fetal general movements are among the first movement patterns to occur. Pregnancy‐related and maternal factors impact quantity and modulation of fetal general movements. Prenatal general movement assessment has not yet brought the expected breakthrough.

Neuromotor repertoires in infants exposed to maternal COVID-19 during pregnancy: a cohort study

“… 18 These movements can be impacted by pregnancy-related factors including hypertensive disorders, diabetes, maternal stress, substance abuse, medications, infections, fetal growth restriction and oligohydramnios. 19 We did not uncover associations between MOS-R and specific maternal or obstetrical parameters, except for SARS-CoV-2 infection itself. It is likely that elevated stress triggered by maternal infection and pandemic circumstances contributed to suboptimal development reflected by a reduced MOS-R in cases as compared with controls.…”

Deep learning-based quantitative analyses of spontaneous movements and their association with early neurological development in preterm infants

“…Spontaneous movements in infants have been recognized as one of the most important predictors of cerebral palsy at the earliest possible age 5 . Spontaneous movements which begin in the early fetal period and last until the first 6 months post-term may reflect the integrity of the developing nervous system 6,7 . Currently, the General Movement Assessment (GMA) for evaluating spontaneous infantile movements is the validated tool for the early detection of cerebral palsy 5,8 along with neonatal magnetic resonance imaging 9 and the Hammersmith Infant Neurological Examination (HINE) 10 .…”

Intelligent wearable allows out-of-the-lab tracking of developing motor abilities in infants

“…Several assessment scales 14 , 15 , 18 have been developed and are widely used for clinical assessment purposes. They typically consist of a larger set of categorical items, except for the detection of fidgety movements in the context of general movement assessments during the first postnatal months 52 , 53 . The assessment items could be reported by the parents or observed by a health care professional from video recordings or during a lab appointment.…”