Association of prenatal maternal perceived stress with a sexually dimorphic measure of cognition in 4.5-month-old infants

Publication date: Available online 6 December 2019Source: Neurotoxicology and TeratologyAuthor(s): F.M. Merced-Nieves, A. Aguiar, K.L.C. Dzwilewski, S. Musaad, S.A. Korrick, S.L. SchantzAbstractMaternal prenatal stress can adversely impact subsequent child neurodevelopment, but little is known about its effect on cognitive development in infancy. This analysis of 107 infants from a prospective birth cohort assessed whether prenatal stress disrupts sexually dimorphic performance typically observed on a physical reasoning task. Maternal stress was assessed at 8–14 and 33–37 gestational weeks using the Perceived Stress Scale. Stress was defined as: low (scores below the median at both times), medium (scores above the median at one of the two times), and high (scores above the median at both times). At 4.5 months infants saw videos of two events: one impossible and the other possible. In the impossible event a box was placed against a wall without support underneath. In the possible event the box was placed against the wall, supported by the floor. Looking time at each event was recorded via infrared eye-tracking. Previous literature has shown that, at 4.5 months of age, girls typically look significantly longer at the impossible than at the possible event, suggesting that they expect the unsupported box to fall and are surprised when it does not. Boys tend to look equally at the two events suggesting that they do not share this expectation. This sex difference was replic...
Source: Neurotoxicology and Teratology - Category: Toxicology Source Type: research