Motor Activity in Early Life. II. Daily Motor Activity Output in the Neonatal Period

Human fetal and neonatal movement patterns: Gender differences and fetal‐to‐neonatal continuity

“…Studies of early human postnatal development report that general movements are a prominent and stereotyped feature of behavior (Prechtl, 1974(Prechtl, , 1984Hadders-Algra & Prechtl, 1992), that motor activity is relatively stable over 1±4-day periods immediately following birth (Campbell, Kuyek, Lang, & Partington, 1971;Cioni, Ferrari, & Prechtl, 1989;Korner, Hutchinson, Koperski, Kraemer, & Schneider, 1981), that levels of spontaneous motor activity of neonates are strongly in¯uenced by behavioral state (Cioni et al, 1989;Hadders-Algra, Nakae, Van Eykern, Klip-Van den Nieuwendijk, & Prechtl, 1993;Prechtl, 1984;Wolff, 1966), and that leg movements are a major feature of movement patterns displayed by supine infants (Thelen, 1981). Further, newborn infants do not appear to display motor asymmetries for leg or arm movements (Butterworth and Hopkins, 1993;Provins, 1992), although for leg kicking movements, a favored leg might emerge at 4±6 weeks postnatal (Thelen, Bradshaw, & Ward, 1981).…”

Spontaneous motor activity in the perinatal infant before and after birth: Stability in individual differences

“…Halverson and Waldrop (1976) and Buss, Block, and Block (1980) found that activity levels in young children were fairly stable over several years and were related to a variety of personality characteristics. Objective recordings in the newborn period have revealed significant stability in the amount of movement over 2-to 3-day periods (Campbell, Kuyele, Lang, & Partington, 1971;Korner, Hutchinson, Koperski, Kraemer, & Schneider, 1981), and caregiver reports have also indicated stable activity patterns during infancy (Rothbart, 1986;Worobey & Blajda, 1989). Furthermore, the data of Korner et al (1985) and Riese (1987aRiese ( , 1987b suggest that activity level in the neonatal period may be predictive of certain temperament traits much later in life: Korner et al (1985) found that infants who were most active in the first 3 days following birth were perceived by their parents at age years as approaching novel situations more eas-4 -8 ily, and Riese (1987aRiese ( , 1987b reported that active neonates, when examined at 2 years of age, were likely to be more variable in emotional tone than inactive neonates.…”

Sex differences in human motor activity level.

“…Should they exist, sex differences in AL may well be influential in the sex-differentiated experiences of males and females. For example, AL has been correlated with caregiver behavior during infancy (Campbell, Kuyek, Lang, & Partington, 1971; Fish & Crockenberg, 1981). If male and female infants systematically differ in AL, caregiver behavior might systematically differ for the sexes as a consequence.…”