Cyclical fluctuation in spontaneous motor activity (CM) emerges in fetus and persists in newborn. This "resetting" experiment perturbed CM by noise stimulus during infants' active sleep. Pre- and postperturbation CM were measured and compared. Subjects were 33 infants between 1 and 3 days of age. The stimulus induced a relative slowing of CM…

Examined asymmetries in movement behaviors of 36 full-term, newborn infants. The majority of infants had right-biased movement behaviors. Multiple subsystems, rather than a single asymmetric system, appeared to control asymmetric action of different body regions. There were sex differences in asymmetry of distal lower body movement behaviors that…

Presents the use of six sensorimotor functions (SMF) as a screening test for cerebral palsy in neonates. Functions include sitting in air, self-pulling to sit, self-propelling Katona slide crawl, assisted crawling, and elementary walking. Nine case examples are provided in an appendix. (Author/CR)

This paper presents a review of the literature concerning the infant Apgar scoring system and its relationship to later mental and motor development. Since 1952, the Apgar scoring system has provided a viable means of assessing the infant's immediate postnatal condition. Researchers have demonstrated that while the 1-minute Apgar score is a useful…

Examined over 200 perinatal variables relating to mothers and to children's neurological, cognitive, and motor functions at 15 months and 4 and 7 years. Factor analysis identified latent variables that characterized covariations among perinatal variables. There were many correlations to children's outcomes, particularly for variables relating to…