Abstract
For many years heart rate change has been used as an index of psychophysiological responsivity in newborn infants. We have hypothesized that a parasympathetic component of heart rate variability (HRV), respiratory sinus arrythmia (RSA), might provide a more sensitive measure of CNS reactivity to external stimulation. We investigated whether infants would show a differential response in RSA to a highly salient source of auditory stimulation - the maternal voice.
Twenty-five healthy full-term neonates were presented with alternations of a period of silence followed by a period of recorded mother's voice. The heart rate data were analyzed using spectral analysis which generated an estimate of RSA, i.e., the sum of spectral densities over the respiratory band. Results show that newborns had a significantly greater RSA during mother's voice as compared to periods of silence. As anticipated, mean heart rate and sucking, traditional measures of stimulus responsivity, showed less systematic changes during stimulation.
The use of RSA as a dependent measure of stimulus reactivity provides us with another method for investigating newborn perceptual and learning capabilities. Our data indicate that this measure of parasympathetic tone, in combination with other autonomic and behavioral measures, will enhance our understanding of the psychophysiological responses of newborn infants.
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Fifer, W., Monti, L., Myers, M. et al. AUTONOMIC RESPONSE TO MOTHER'S VOICE IN NEWBORNS. Pediatr Res 21 (Suppl 4), 181 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198704010-00087
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198704010-00087