Markham Rebecca G, Toth Gabriella, Lickliter Robert
Department of Psychology, Florida International University, Miami, FL 33199, USA.
Behav Neurosci. 2006 Dec;120(6):1315-25. doi: 10.1037/0735-7044.120.6.1315.
Neonatal studies suggest elevated arousal can negatively influence perceptual and cognitive processes during early development. The authors explored this issue during the prenatal period by pharmacologically elevating physiological arousal in bobwhite quail (Colinus virginianus) embryos during exposure to a maternal call, then assessing preference for the familiar call following hatching. Embryos receiving norepinephrine showed a prenatal elevation in heart rate and failed to demonstrate a preference for the familiar call following hatching. Embryos not receiving norepinephrine showed no elevation in heart rate and demonstrated a preference for the familiar call. These results indicate elevated arousal can interfere with perceptual learning during the prenatal period and provide additional evidence for an optimal window of arousal necessary to foster species-typical perceptual functioning during early development.
新生儿研究表明,在早期发育过程中,觉醒水平升高会对感知和认知过程产生负面影响。作者通过药理学方法在母鹌鹑(Colinus virginianus)胚胎接触母鹌鹑叫声时提高其生理觉醒水平,然后在孵化后评估其对熟悉叫声的偏好,以此来探讨产前阶段的这一问题。接受去甲肾上腺素的胚胎心率在产前升高,孵化后未能表现出对熟悉叫声的偏好。未接受去甲肾上腺素的胚胎心率没有升高,并表现出对熟悉叫声的偏好。这些结果表明,觉醒水平升高会干扰产前阶段的感知学习,并为早期发育过程中促进物种典型感知功能所需的最佳觉醒窗口提供了额外证据。