A recent study shows that fetal kicks in the mother's womb may allow him to form a "physical map" of himself, enabling him to finally explore the environment.
The study was conducted by the University of London College, in collaboration with the College Hospital, and recently published by the scientific journal Scientific Reports.
In the study, researchers measured the brain waves emitted when embryos kick their limbs during "rapid eye movement sleep", where they found that rapid brain waves, exactly the pattern of waves in newborns, are released in the opposite half of the brain.
"Fast eye movement sleep" is a stage of sleep characterized by rapid eye movement.
For example, the right hand movement of the fetus triggers brain waves, immediately afterwards, in the right part of the brain that handles the touch in the right hand. It is noteworthy that the size of these brain waves is the largest in the embryos, which are usually inside the uterus.
The results indicate that fetal kicks during the final stages of pregnancy, ie during the last trimester of pregnancy, help in the growth of areas of the brain that deal with sensory inputs, the way in which the fetus develops the sensation of his body. The rapid brainwaves caused by the movement disappear when the child reaches a few weeks.
"Spontaneous movement and subsequent reactions from the surrounding environment during the early growth period are known to be necessary for brain mapping in animals like rats," said Lorenzo Fabrizi, a neurology, physiology and pharmacology doctor at the University of London College and co-author of the study. Here it may be true in humans, too. "
Kimberly Whitehead, a neuroscientist, member of the faculty and pharmacist, said: "We believe that the results of the study have implications for providing an ideal environment for inpatients to receive appropriate sensory inputs. To allow them to feel a roof when they kick their limbs, as if they were still in the womb. "
Brain waves were measured for children using EEG and were recorded continuously during sleep. Active sleep was also defined as behavioral, according to the side-view of the children's family during "rapid eye movement sleep," frequent, largely irregular breathing and individual limb movements.
The study included 19 neonates between 31 and 42 weeks of gestational age. It is noted that the corrected age of pregnancy takes into account the age of the child if he is still in the womb of his mother. For example, if a child is born after 35 weeks and then spends a week after birth, his / her corrected gestational age is 36 weeks.