Lejeune Fleur, Borradori Tolsa Cristina, Gentaz Edouard, Barisnikov Koviljka
Child Clinical Neuropsychology Unit, FPSE, University of Geneva, Switzerland; Sensorimotor, Affective and Social Development Unit, FPSE, University of Geneva, Switzerland.
Division of Development and Growth, Child and Adolescent Department, Geneva University Hospital, Switzerland.
Infant Behav Dev. 2018 Aug;52:45-55. doi: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2018.05.004. Epub 2018 Jun 1.
Numerous studies have established that newborns can memorize tactile information about the specific features of an object with their hands and detect differences with another object. However, the robustness of haptic memory abilities has already been examined in preterm newborns and in full-term infants, but not yet in full-term newborns. This research is aimed to better understand the robustness of haptic memory abilities at birth by examining the effects of a change in the objects' temperature and haptic interference.
Sixty-eight full-term newborns (mean postnatal age: 2.5 days) were included. The two experiments were conducted in three phases: habituation (repeated presentation of the same object, a prism or cylinder in the newborn's hand), discrimination (presentation of a novel object), and recognition (presentation of the familiar object). In Experiment 1, the change in the objects' temperature was controlled during the three phases.
Results reveal that newborns can memorize specific features that differentiate prism and cylinder shapes by touch, and discriminate between them, but surprisingly they did not show evidence of recognizing them after interference. As no significant effect of the temperature condition was observed in habituation, discrimination and recognition abilities, these findings suggest that discrimination abilities in newborns may be determined by the detection of shape differences. Overall, it seems that the ontogenesis of haptic recognition memory is not linear. The developmental schedule is likely crucial for haptic development between 34 and 40 GW.
众多研究已证实，新生儿能够用手记住关于物体特定特征的触觉信息，并能察觉与另一物体的差异。然而，触觉记忆能力的稳健性已在早产儿和足月儿中得到检验，但尚未在足月新生儿中进行研究。本研究旨在通过考察物体温度变化和触觉干扰的影响，更好地了解出生时触觉记忆能力的稳健性。
纳入68名足月新生儿（平均出生后年龄：2.5天）。两个实验分三个阶段进行：习惯化（在新生儿手中重复呈现同一物体，一个棱柱或圆柱）、辨别（呈现一个新物体）和识别（呈现熟悉的物体）。在实验1中，在三个阶段控制物体的温度变化。
结果显示，新生儿能够通过触摸记住区分棱柱和圆柱形状的特定特征，并对它们进行辨别，但令人惊讶的是，在受到干扰后他们没有表现出识别它们的证据。由于在习惯化、辨别和识别能力方面未观察到温度条件的显著影响，这些发现表明新生儿的辨别能力可能由形状差异的检测决定。总体而言，触觉识别记忆的个体发生似乎不是线性的。发育进程可能对34至40孕周之间的触觉发育至关重要。
