Department of Psychology, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
Dev Med Child Neurol. 2020 Jul;62(7):778-783. doi: 10.1111/dmcn.14540. Epub 2020 Apr 10.
This review and synthesis discusses recent work that has utilized brain imaging methods, such as the electroencephalogram (EEG) and magnetoencephalogram, to provide insights into the ways that the body is represented in the infant brain. One aspect of body representation concerns somatotopic maps of the body surface in somatosensory cortex. A good deal is known about the properties of these maps in adults, but there has been relatively little developmental work. Recent studies have provided new insights into the organization of infant neural body maps and have laid the foundations for examining their plasticity in relation to behavioral development. Other work has suggested that neural body maps may be involved in the registration of correspondences between self and other, with implications for early social development. Here, body representations are discussed in the context of preterm birth and autism spectrum disorder, providing novel perspectives relevant to developmental medicine and child neurology. WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS: ●Somatotopic body maps develop prenatally through intrinsic and activity-dependent mechanisms. ●There is increasing interest in understanding postnatal plasticity in body maps. ●Body representations may be involved in the registration of preverbal, interpersonal relationships.
这篇综述和综合讨论了最近利用脑成像方法（如脑电图（EEG）和脑磁图）来深入了解身体在婴儿大脑中的表现方式的工作。身体表现的一个方面涉及体感皮层中身体表面的躯体感觉图。关于这些图在成年人中的特性已经有很多了解，但在发展方面的研究相对较少。最近的研究为婴儿神经身体图的组织提供了新的见解，并为研究它们与行为发展的可塑性奠定了基础。其他研究表明，神经身体图可能参与自我和他人之间对应关系的登记，这对早期社会发展有影响。在这里，身体表现是在早产儿和自闭症谱系障碍的背景下讨论的，为发展医学和儿童神经病学提供了相关的新视角。本文的新增内容：●躯体感觉图通过内在和活动依赖性机制在产前发育。●人们越来越感兴趣于理解身体图的产后可塑性。●身体表现可能参与了前言语、人际关系的登记。
