The blink reflex: maturation and modification in the neonate.

The onset and development of the delayed blink response, elicited by a tap to the glabella, and its modification by an acoustic stimulus (tone), were studied longitudinally in 36 healthy preterm and 43 term infants. Blink amplitude increased with gestational age. By term postconceptional age, the responses of the preterm infants to tap alone, and to both tap and tone, were not significantly different from those of the term infants. These results suggest that neurological development, as reflected by the blink reflex and its modification, proceeds in an orderly, sequential fashion and that the mechanisms affecting these brainstem processes are not altered by environmental influences.