Fetal Development

Nadja Reissland, D. PHIL (OXON), MA, BSc., is a Developmental Psychologist, Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology and Deputy Head of the Science Faculty Durham University UK. Her work is at the forefront of the growing field of fetal psychology and is especially focused on fetal development in relation to maternal stress and depression, as well as early mother- infant interaction. Her pioneering research on fetal movements, specifically fetal facial movements, has potential applications for obstetricians helping to identify indicators of healthy development in utero. Her research program includes the effects of maternal mental health (stress and depression) as well as health behaviours (smoking) on fetal behaviour. Furthermore she evaluates behaviours including laterality, vision and precursors to language as evidence of the development of CNS function. Barbara S. Kisilevsky, BN, MN, MA, Ph.D., is Professor Emerita, Queen's University, Kingston, ON Canada. With academic appointments in Nursing, Psychology, and Obstetrics & Gynaecology, she established an internationally recognized multidisciplinary research program in the area of sensory development in the perinatal period with collaborations in the USA, Europe and Asia. In over 30 years of examining behavior (e.g., cardiac, body movements) from a psychobiological perspective, she and colleagues have characterized auditory (e.g., white noise, music, mother's voice) and vibroacoustic sensitivity in fetuses in uneventful pregnancies; identified differential behaviors in fetuses in pregnancies complicated by conditions associated with placental insufficiency; determined sensory interventions to reduce behavioral and physiological responses of premature infants to 'pain' stimuli; described mother-infant interactions cross-culturally; and, demonstrated a relationship between fetal voice/speech processing, newborn information processing, and infant language ability. Her laboratory has served as a training facility for international visiting scientists, PhD, MSc, and MA theses, and numerous undergraduate summer students.

Part I: Brain-Behavior Development.- Animal Models.- 1. Using an Animal Model to Explore the Prenatal Origins of Social Development ; Robert Lickliter and Lorraine E. Bahrick.- 2. Fetal and Birth Experiences: Proximate Effects, Developmental Consequences, Epigenetic Legacies; April E. Ronca and Jeffrey R. Alberts.- 3. Yoke Motor Learning in the Fetal Rat: A Model System for Prenatal Behavioral Development; Scott R. Robinson.- 4. Fetal Behavioral Development and Brain Growth in Chimpanzees versus Humans: A View from Studies with 4D Ultrasonography; Hideko Takeshita, Satoshi Hirata, Tomoko Sakai, Masako Myowa-Yamakoshi.- Human Fetuses.- 5. Fetal Behavior: Clinical and Experimental Research in the Human; Eduard J.H. Mulder and Gerard H.A. Visser.- 6. Fetal Behavioral and Psychoneurological Development; Jan G. Nijhuis.- 7. Linear and Nonlinear Analysis of Fetal Heart Rate Variability; Hernâni Gonçalves, Diogo Ayres-de-Campos, João Bernardes.- 8. Fetal Auditory Processing: Implications for Language Development?; Barbara S. Kisilevsky.- 9. The Fetal Observable Movement System (FOMS); Nadja Reissland, Brian Francis, Louisa Buttanshaw.- 10. Assessment of the Fetal Neuromotor Development with New KANET Test; Aida Salihagic Kadic, Milan Stanojevic, Maja Predojevic, Borna Poljak, Barbara Grubisic-Cabo, Asim Kurjak.- 11. The Potential Value of Habituation in the Fetus; Leo R. Leader.- Part II: Environmental Influences on Development.- Maternal Emotions.- 12. Maternal Anxiety, Depression and Stress during Pregnancy: Effects on the Fetus and the Child, and Underlying Mechanisms; Vivette Glover, Yousra Ahmed-Salim, Lauren Capron.- 13. Neurobehavioral Consequences of Fetal Exposure to Gestational Stress; Curt A. Sandman, Laura M. Glynn, Elysia Poggi Davis.- 14. Maternal Anxiety, Mindfulness and Heart Rate Variability during Pregnancy Influence Fetal and Infant Development; Bea R.H. Van den Bergh.- Iron Deficiency, Alcohol Consumption, SSRI Exposure.- 15. Long-term Brain and Behavioral Consequences of Early-life Iron Deficiency; Bruce C. Kennedy, Diana J. Wallin, Phu V. Tran, Michael K. Georgieff.- 16. Observing the Fetus' Behavior to Assess Health: The Behavior of the Human Fetus in Response to Maternal Alcohol Consumption; Peter G. Hepper.- 17. The Effects of Alcohol Exposure on Fetal Development; Christine C. Dobson, Parker J. Holman, Wendy Comeau, Tamara Bodnar, Vivian Lam, James F. Brien, James N. Reynolds, Joanne Weinberg.- 18. Fetal Effects of Prenatal Exposure to Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor (SSRIs) Antidepressant Exposure; Gillian Hanley, Kaia Hookenson, Dan Rurak, Tim F. Oberlander.- Part III: New Imaging Technologies.- 19. HDlive in the Assessment of Twin Pregnancy; Toshiyuki Hata, Kenji Kanenishi, Uiko Hanaoka, Rina Uematsu, Genzo Marumo.- 20. In Vivo Human Fetal Brain Analysis Using MR Imaging; François Rousseau, Colin Studholme, Renaud Jardri, Moriah E. Thomason.- 21. Functional Imaging of the Prenatal Brain; Veronika Schöpf, Georg Langs, Andras Jakab.- 22. Assessing Functional Brain Development in the Uterus and Fetal Magnetoencephalography; Jana Muenssinger and Hubert Preissl.- 23. Fetal Assessment Using Biomagnetometry: Neurobehaviors, Cardiac Autonomic Control and Research Applications; Kathleen M. Gustafson and Elena Anda Popescu.- Afterword.- Index.

"A compendium of 23 chapters describing in 5 sections the developments of brain and behavior in the pre- and post-natal period ... . A clearly didactic text with many illustrations ... and many references. For neonatologists, developmental psychologists, pediatricians and obstetricians. Recommended." (Pediatric Endocrinology Reviews (PER), 2017)

"Fetal Development is a collection of chapters crammed full of information that commands the reader's full attention. ... it would be a great reference tool for a pediatrician when he has a patient who smokes or works at a high stress job. ... For researchers studying epigenetics or the neurobehavioral effects of exogenous variables-this is the next book they should purchase." (R. Nicolle Carr, PsycCRITIQUES, Vol. 61 (36), September, 2016)

"This book describes fetal psychobiological research, with an emphasis on genetic and epigenetic factors, along with brain and behavior. ... This excellent book covers a wide variety of topics related to fetal development. Researchers and clinicians alike will benefit." (Gary B. Kaniuk, Doody's Book Reviews, June, 2016)