Fetal behavior: Clinical and experimental research in the human

Abstract

The intrauterine environment in which we develop has an enormous impact on our physiology and behavior, displayed not only before but also after birth. Proper knowledge of normal fetal behavior, reflecting central nervous system functioning, is essential to detect and characterize the effect on fetal behavioral development of a particular antenatal disturbance. The latter may relate to fetal structural and/or genetic abnormalities, to fetal exposure to poor nutrition or recreational and (non-)prescription drugs, and to maternal physical and mental diseases. This chapter summarizes our experience with neurobehavioral development in the human fetus, studied in clinical and experimental conditions by two-dimensional ultrasonography and spanning several decades.