Is the human neonate indeed "physiological premature," as has been frequently stated? How does human neural development compare with that of other primate species? Is early human development a gradual unfolding of neural mechanisms from prenatal to postnatal life, or does it show rapid transformations at particular ages? The aim of this book is to answer these and similar questions about the functional repertoire of the human fetus, neonate, and young infant. Two main theoretical concepts are considered: first, the relationship between neural maturation and the duration of pregnancy and second, the existence of ontogenetic adaptations. Surveys and findings relevant to these concepts are provided by experts from various disciplines involved in research on fetal and preterm development and on the first three months of postnatal life. This book differs from many others summarizing descriptive knowledge of the field by emphasizing new theoretical concepts of early functional development. Recent ultrasound studies of the fetus have contributed greatly to this new approach, which has clear implications for the assessment and care of young infants. This thought-provoking book will be of interest to developmental neurologists, pediatricians and obstetricians, as well as to developmental psychologists and physical anthropologists.

A unique analysis of childhood motor development from the perspectives of both neuropsychology and neurophysiology.

Recent scientific studies have brought significant advances in the understanding of basic mental functions such as memory, dreams, identification, repression, which constitute the basis of the psychoanalytical theory. This book focuses on the possibility of interactions between psychoanalysis and neuroscience: emotions and the right hemisphere, serotonin and depression. It is a unique tool for professionals and students in these fields, and for operators of allied disciplines, such as psychology and psychotherapy.

Though much has been written about twins, very little research has been done into their everyday lives, both postnatal and prenatal. In this fascinating new study Alessandra Piontelli follows the development and behaviour of thirty pairs of twins from their early life in the womb through to their third year of childhood. Drawing on detailed ultrasound observations and work with mothers and families in clinical and natural settings, the text traces the subtle ways in which various types of twins live, behave and interact with their unequally shared and unique pre- and postnatal environments. Piontelli shows how from early on distinctive and personal traits can be seen in the behaviour of each member of a twin couple and how these traits continue and strengthen well beyond birth. The book describes not only the behaviour of the twins, but the impact they have on the lives of their family and carers - what family members say, how they react and how the family changes. Scientifically based, but warmly human in content, this unique longitudinal study offers new insight for professionals working with mothers and families of twins and for researchers in human development across a range of disciplines.

The expression 'Neural Networks' refers traditionally to a class of mathematical algorithms that obtain their proper performance while they 'learn' from examples or from experience. As a consequence, they are suitable for performing straightforward and relatively simple tasks like classification, pattern recognition and prediction, as well as more sophisticated tasks like the processing of temporal sequences and the context dependent processing of complex problems. Also, a wide variety of control tasks can be executed by them, and the suggestion is relatively obvious that neural networks perform adequately in such cases because they are thought to mimic the biological nervous system which is also devoted to such tasks. As we shall see, this suggestion is false but does not do any harm as long as it is only the final performance of the algorithm which counts. Neural networks are also used in the modelling of the functioning of (sub systems in) the biological nervous system. It will be clear that in such cases it is certainly not irrelevant how similar their algorithm is to what is precisely going on in the nervous system. Standard artificial neural networks are constructed from 'units' (roughly similar to neurons) that transmit their 'activity' (similar to membrane potentials or to mean firing rates) to other units via 'weight factors' (similar to synaptic coupling efficacies).

Regression periods play a central role in the psychological development of the human baby. Studies of infants have identified 10 periods of regression, or a return to a high frequency of mother-infant contact, within the first 20 months of life. These periods of emotional insecurity in the child signal forthcoming periods of developmental advance and the emergence of an array of new skills as a consequence of parent-infant conflict over body contact and the renegotiation of old privileges. Although the basic idea in this book is an old one, the authors believe that regression periods deserve further study and have identified four questions of central importance today: *Can the phenomenon of regression periods as found by Dutch researchers in 1992 be replicated in other countries and cultures? *What environmental conditions have an effect on these regression periods and how? *Are there physical conditions in infants that show a non-linear distribution over age similar to regression periods? *Have brain changes been detected since the review of Fischer & Rose (1994) at other ages than the six reported by them, and, if yes, how do these relate to the ages at which regression periods are found? Forming the core of this book, the replication studies performed in Sweden, Spain, and England provide support that regression periods are a rreliable phenomenon and should be dealt with accordingly whenever developmental processes in infancy are discussed.

This work sees the light for various reasons. There is a general lack of detailed information about the earliest stages of human motor development. The reasons for this are explained more fully in the Introduction; here we may simply state that, apart from their intrinsic interest, earlier phenomena are fundamental to the comprehension of later phenomena rooted in them, whether pathological or normal. This is especially so in the rapidly - veloping young organism. At birth the neonate is catapulted into a profoundly different physical and social envir- ment requiring extremely diverse functioning: suffice it to mention aerial respiration, no longer being fed through the placenta and the cord, and the full impact of gravity on neonatal movements. The neonate generally adapts smoothly to the transition, as it has been equipped to do so during the 9 months of pregnancy. However, the study of the early stages of fetal motor development should not be exclusively directed towards the und- standing of functioning in the neonate.