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1 - Embodied Brain Model for Understanding Functional Neural Development of Fetuses and Infants

from Part I - Foundations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2020

By
Yasunori Yamada ,
Hoshinori Kanazawa  and
Yasuo Kuniyoshi
Edited by
Jeffrey J. Lockman  and
Catherine S. Tamis-LeMonda
Jeffrey J. Lockman
Affiliation:
Tulane University, Louisiana
Catherine S. Tamis-LeMonda
Affiliation:
New York University
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Summary

Early functional neural development is increasingly recognized as important for revealing the developmental origins of human cognitive-motor function and related disorders. Previous studies focusing on fetuses and neonates have revealed sophisticated behaviors and cognitive repertoires, indicating that fetuses begin learning through sensorimotor experience even inside the uterus. Despite accumulating evidence supporting the importance of sensorimotor experience in neural development as early as the fetal period, the developmental mechanisms by which intrauterine sensorimotor experience guides cortical learning, including factors in prenatal experience that are needed for normal development, remain unclear. However, investigating causal links between sensorimotor experience and cortical learning is particularly challenging in human fetuses owing to technical and ethical difficulties. Therefore, computational approaches based on comprehensive biological data about nervous system, body, and environment have been developed to probe mechanisms underlying early functional brain development. In this chapter, we show how an embodied approach focusing on interactions among brain, body, and environment offers opportunities to explore relations between functional neural development and sensorimotor experience.

Keywords

Fetal developmentprenatal developmentembodied brain modelprematuritybody representations
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Infant Development
Brain, Behavior, and Cultural Context
 , pp. 3 - 39
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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