Fifer William P, Byrd Dana L, Kaku Michelle, Eigsti Inge-Marie, Isler Joseph R, Grose-Fifer Jillian, Tarullo Amanda R, Balsam Peter D
Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010 Jun 1;107(22):10320-3. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1005061107. Epub 2010 May 17.
Newborn infants must rapidly adjust their physiology and behavior to the specific demands of the novel postnatal environment. This adaptation depends, at least in part, on the infant's ability to learn from experiences. We report here that infants exhibit learning even while asleep. Bioelectrical activity from face and scalp electrodes was recorded from neonates during an eye movement conditioning procedure in which a tone was followed by a puff of air to the eye. Sleeping newborns rapidly learned the predictive relationship between the tone and the puff. Additionally, in the latter part of training, these infants exhibited a frontally maximum positive EEG slow wave possibly reflecting memory updating. As newborns spend most of their time sleeping, the ability to learn about external stimuli in the postnatal environment during nonawake states may be crucial for rapid adaptation and infant survival. Furthermore, because eyelid conditioning reflects functional cerebellar circuitry, this method potentially offers a unique approach for early identification of infants at risk for a range of developmental disorders including autism and dyslexia.
新生儿必须迅速调整其生理和行为，以适应产后新环境的特定需求。这种适应至少部分取决于婴儿从经验中学习的能力。我们在此报告，婴儿即使在睡眠时也能表现出学习能力。在一项眼球运动条件反射程序中，从新生儿的面部和头皮电极记录生物电活动，该程序中，一个音调之后会有一股气流吹向眼睛。睡眠中的新生儿迅速学会了音调与气流之间的预测关系。此外，在训练后期，这些婴儿表现出额叶最大正性脑电图慢波，这可能反映了记忆更新。由于新生儿大部分时间都在睡觉，在非清醒状态下了解产后环境中的外部刺激的能力可能对快速适应和婴儿生存至关重要。此外，由于眼睑条件反射反映了功能性小脑回路，这种方法可能为早期识别一系列发育障碍（包括自闭症和诵读困难）风险的婴儿提供一种独特的方法。
