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Prenatal LearningClaira: A Case Study in Prenatal Learning
William B. Sallenbach, Ph.D.
William B. Sallenbach, Ph.D., is a staff child therapist at the Gateway Center in Ketchikan, Alaska, part-time Instructor in Developmental Psychology for the University of Alaska, Southeast, and Director of the Institute for Prenatal Studies. For several years he has been working in the area of prenatal bonding and learning patterns and is currently studying cross-cultural variations. He also works with traumatized children and their families. This article reports on a unique and intensive observational study of his own child from week 34-36 in utero. It breaks new ground in the study of prenatal learning.
Historically, most studies of prenatal learning have centered upon contingency reinforcements, habituation responses, and developmental outcomes. Very little research has examined the learning process during the prenatal period. This case study examines the behavioral responses of one prenate to an experimental curriculum. Significant movement responses are noted. The responses appear as an organized pattern which would imply that the prenate is capable of progressing from generality and abstraction to specificity and discernment in the learning process. This learning process may well be unified, organized, and amodal in nature. Movement patterns imply that higher order variables help to govern learning and are critical in the emergence of mental schema and regulations. Results from this study suggest that at the prenatal level, there is the beginning of cognitive schemes and regulations in mental operations. Responses during the prenatal period are compared to later developmental trends in infancy.
By design, the field of pre- and perinatal psychology must eventually attempt to clarify and to define what is "innate" in the human condition. The frontier for this field is the exploration of hu mankind's original nature. Within this context, the areas of prenatal learning and bonding are challenged to examine the sources of learning, social interactions, and the etiology of development itself. Prenatal bonding and learning stand at the forefront of human social and mental origins at the most elementary levels.
In an article describing the roots of social and cognitive development, Andrew Meltzoff (1985) has pointed out that developmental psychology has often hindered its own investigations by insisting on basic assumptions and misconceptions regarding infant development. As an example, Meltzoff points out that the prevailing scientific axiom regarding infant development is that the newborn is reflexive and asocial. Such views have been fostered and maintained in the traditions of Piaget, Bowlby's attachment theory, and psychoanalytic theory.
In Piagetian psychology mental structures evolve from reflexive interactions. The infant is at best "egocentric" in social contexts. Hence mental and social development takes a much later course of development.
The view of the infant as egocentric has also been fostered by Bowlby's attachment theory (1969) which sees attachment as evolving from reflexive interactions in a hierarchical progression. In the psychoanalytic tradition there is also the prevailing view that the infant is "asocial" or "autistic" in regards to social responsiveness (Mahler, Pine, and Bergman, 1975). Each of these views sees the physiological processes as dominant over psychological processes.
Looking at the area of prenatal learning, the same assumptions appear to be operating as well. Learning processes have most commonly been described in terms of habituation (Kisilevsky and Muir, 1991; Querleu et al., 1981; Sakabe et al., 1969), conditioning (Spelt, 1948; Van de Carr, 1988), and imprinting sequences (Salk, 1962; Logan, 1991).
Serious efforts to explore prenatal learning began in the 1920's and 1930's. Pieper (1925) performed sonic startles to study fetal responses. The same line of research was continued by Forbes and Forbes (1927). Ray (1932) seemed amazed that prenates would react to the smacking together of two boards. Sontag and Wallace (1934) attempted to experiment with greater numbers and to secure tighter controls over variables. Holt (1933) put forth the premise that intrauterine conditioning accounts for certain behavioral characteristics in the newborn. Spelt (1948) studied refractory time in the habituation-dishabituation process described by Forbes, Peiper, and Ray. In these historical studies the main premise for prenatal learning involved physiological processes. They did not define the psychological processes at work for the prenate.
There is also a growing body of research which attempts to understand the prenate as an intelligent and sentient being. This has been one of the main pursuits of David Chamberlain (1988; 1992; 1993, 1994). Henry Truby demonstrated that by 28 weeks gestational age, mothers and premature infant voices could be matched on voice spectrographs. The work of Anthony DeCasper (DeCasper and Fifer, 1980; DeCasper and Spence, 1982; DeCasper and Prescott, 1984) reveals a complexity of bonding and language processing during the prenatal period.
In his work, Chamberlain (1992, p. 222) has pointed to the surprising musical intelligence demonstrated by prenates. Premature infants hearing Brahms' Lullaby in the hospital nursery, had accelerated growth and were discharged sooner than non-stimulated babies (Chapman; 1975). Peter Hepper (1988) has demonstrated that the prenates of mothers who listened to "soap opera" theme music during pregnancy showed a preference for the same music during the postnatal period. It has also been reported that unborn children respond favorably to portions of Vivaldi and Mozart, but with hyperactivity to rock music and other heavy classical compositions (Clements, 1977, Verny, 1991). Gellrich (1993) has even postulated that musical abilities developed prenatally can be enhanced and accelerated throughout early childhood.
One could expound on a litany of works which demonstrate memory and meaningful interactions during the prenatal period. Yet we still do not have a clear understanding of the psychological processes underlying these behaviors. It is the premise of this paper that the latter findings described above provide us with glimpses of the complexity and refinement of learning during the prenatal period. Rather than reflexive habit procedures, there may be a unified and "intelligent" organization of experiences. Physiological states are important in understanding learning, but we must be careful not to equate neurological functions with learning. Using one to describe the other may be like mixing apples and oranges (Bower, 1989).
If we see learning only as a response to externally imposed methods which measure learning as increases in rate of responses dependent upon contingent reinforcements, then we miss the richness of the processes which underscore such changes. Conditioning, operant learning, and habituation are important measurements of response and I make use of them in this study. However, in studies with young infants one also can find research which supports the notion that intrinsic motivation is a primary reinforcer (Papousek, 1979; Watson, 1967; Bower, 1989; Meltzoff, 1990). In this view, learning involves the rudimentary formulation and testing of hypotheses by the young infant.
In this case study, I present the idea that the prenate, especially during the last trimester, is in a learning state which moves from abstraction and generalization to increased specificity and differentiation (Bower, 1989). These processes are unified, amodal in perception, and governed by higher order variables which guide the infant toward hypothetical formulations about the uterine environment and the external world (Sallenbach, 1993).
This paper is a case study of one prenate's learning strategies. It is intended to provide an in-depth analysis of those processes as reflected in one child. The report is not quantitative in nature, nor is it necessarily intended to be generalized to all prenates. There are methodological flaws which seemed unavoidable at the time. Despite all, it is hoped that this paper will help to clarify further the uncharted waters of learning at its earliest levels.
The subject for this study was a young female prenate named "Claira." The information is taken from careful and detailed accounts of learning episodes done with her. These data were obtained from the 34th through the 36th weeks of gestation. Six learning episodes were recorded utilizing eleven different learning activities. Some of the activities were repeated within a single episode. Information was also taken from several emotional bonding activities and all of the activities were part of a specific educational curriculum. The compilation of the data had four main objectives: 1) to record the prenate's behavioral responses to specific learning activities; 2) to identify responses to both maternal and familial social cues; 3) to correlate observed behaviors with later early infant developmental skills, and; 4) to evaluate any psychological processes evident in the prenate's responses.
Each learning episode was videotaped. Responses were evaluated both immediately following a session and reviewed several times afterwards. Claira's body position was identified ahead of time so that movement responses could be carefully traced by using dolls. From these reviews and observations four main movement categories were determined.
An obvious flaw in this approach is the potential for "observer bias." The mother was cognizant of the games and their objectives. There was also the risk of bias on the part of the father who was the author. The advantages of this arrangement, on the other hand, were that we were more familiar with the movement responses, were in a better position to provide feedback, and familiar enough to observe on a more intimate level. An alternative method would have involved high tech intervention such as with sonograms but this would have been costly and did not seem consistent with the goals of the program.
Since response detection was literally a "hands-on" approach, a third party reviewing the tapes would not have been able to detect intrauterine movements. Another alternative would have been to have a third party also providing hands-on detection. An attempt was made for a third party observation through the University of Washington, but Claira decided "to sleep through" all of our attempts to arouse her. These are typical problems encountered in this type of research.
One of the ways we attempted to control for bias was to establish a baseline for behaviors prior to the learning sessions. Claira's wakefulness was usually indicated by generalized or specific movements. It was important not to confuse these movements with any intentional responses to the learning activities. Baseline was defined as a ten minute period when there was no activity evident. The baseline thus indicated a quiet-alert state and formed the stage for beginning the learning activities.
Claira was responding to an experimental prenatal curriculum called Bonded Beginnings (Sallenbach, 1991). The program includes specific activities designed to promote bonding and learning during the prenatal and neonatal periods and particularly between the prenate and the family. Learning is viewed as part of the bonding process in this program. By linking the learning episodes to bonding, it was thought that the learning games could enhance development. There was no intent to accelerate development.
The curriculum has three levels with specific games and activities for each one. The first level is "Bonding through Feelings," with the focus on the maternal-infant relationship. It includes "sharing" activities such as story-telling, selected words/concepts, and relating simple sensory experiences from the mother to the prenate. Paramount to this level are the meditative skills needed to "tune-in" to the needs and states of the prenate and to be able to "distance" negative emotions that could influence the baby.
The second level, "Bonding through Music,." Includes five musical selections which were professionally done for the curriculum. The musical component also reinforces feeling and learning activities as part of its design. Four of the arrangements are for the mother/family to sing-along with the unborn. Beats and melodies reinforce basic vowel sounds and family interaction patterns. The fifth musical piece was intented for relaxation and stimulating aware ness. It is a simple melody which utilizes beats and dissonance.
The third level is "Bonding through Learning." This unit includes six learning activities. The lessons introduce sequential awareness, auditory localization, visual perception, vowel sound discrimination, and vowel-consonant blends. These activities were repeated on the other two levels as well.
A unique feature of the Bonded Beginnings curriculum is it's "cross-modal" approach to early learning (Meltzoff, 1990). In this paradigm, perception is seen as amodal. Amodal perception refers to the infant's ability to take information from one sensory modality and transfer it to another modality. It involves complex mapping processes where there are equivalences matched between what is perceived and the body transformations needed to make a felt response to the perception (ibid).
In order to accommodate this position from a prenatal perspective some adaptations were made. Each of the learning activities is simultaneously presented in two or more perceptual modalities. For example, the light trajectory game, "Over the Rainbow" is done by having the penlight pushed down, flashed, and vocally cued all at the same time. All of the other activities functioned in like manner. The simultaneity of multiple sensory cues helps the unborn to integrate the information.
The program is conducted once or twice a day for a five to ten minute period. This usually involves one of the musical pieces and a series from the learning level. The first level is structured to be done at any time. To date three families have used the program and the fourth and fifth families are currently using it.
R esponses to the learning activities were categorized by movement patterns. By carefully studying the movement, four main categories were recognized. Movements were tracked along the abdomen wall. The first category was hand/arm movements. In this category, Claira facilitated movement responses primarily with the hand, with additional movement through the wrist, lower forearm, elbow, and some shoulder extension. The movement(s) seemed to utilize an abducted upward move and repetition of flex-extension patterns. It was not possible to determine the extent of any finger movements independent of the hand and wrist.
The second category was kicking movements. This category involved extension patterns with the knee and/or hip. It was not possible to determine to what extent head movements accompanied this pattern.
A third category involved rolling movements. During the sampling, Claira's spine was positioned against the uterine wall. The rolling moved in an approximate 135 degree rotation from start and back again to point of origin. Often the pattern was repeated in succession. Hip movement may have been involved and there did not seem to be much leg extension in this movement.
The fourth category was rhythmic movements. These occurred only when music was played. The defining characteristic of this pattern was a "bouncing" effect from possible hip and/or upper torso movements. The action seemed to be sustained in a brief duration of a regularly recurring element.
In the course of six sessions over a two week period of recording, eleven different activities were tried, some with greater frequency than others. Several of the games were ongoing from the twenty eight week of gestation and other were introduced as novelty preference during the audited period.
The activities were organized into five major domains. The first was social which included initial greetings from family members, brief conversations, and good-byes. The second was lan guage. This included vowel sound discriminations. The third was visual and involved responses to penlight movements across the mother's abdomen. The fourth domain was auditory which involved localizing to the sound of a bell. The fifth domain, involved responses to music.
Figure 1
Frequency of Movement Patterns to Learning DomainsResponse Baseline Social Language Visual Auditory Music Hand/arm 1 6 4 2 1 2 Kicking 0 1 6 7 1 1 Rolling 0 1 3 3 5 5 Rhythmic 0 0 0 0 0 3 What is striking in the interactions is the possibility of separate and organized responses by Claira to the different types of learning activities. The results are shown in Figure 1. Included in the figure is also the baseline established prior to the sessions. What is implied in Figure 1 is that movement patterns can vary according to the learning activity set before the prenate. It is possible that Claira was reacting with a different movement pattern to each of the learning domains. The social games were met with hand movements and the visual games were met with kicking movements. The auditory game inspired rolling movements, while responses to the music incorporated rolling and rhythmic patterns.
There is the possibility that the hand movements were often used to specify a localized place in response to the social games. There are two potential explanations for this phenomenon. One is that her size may have prohibited much variation. Another is that the social games may have evoked an associated location for interactions.
Language games elicited a range of movements but the dominant one was kicking. Considering the nature of the language games, these responses may reflect a diverse organization. Games involved speaking a vowel sound with a visual cue (pen light) reinforcing one specific vowel sound. In this regard, the activities blended the social, visual and auditory domains. We can only speculate that the varied discrimination in movement responses showed a degree of differentiation and discrimination in the learning games.
Likewise, what is not reflected in Figure 1 is the organized progression in the movement patterns. This is as striking as the information just discussed. The rolling patterns seen during the auditory games actually accounted for the localization of the sound source. In other words, by the third and fourth session, Claira was consistently using rolling to locate the bell sound. This infers a searching behavior, and such behaviors are often prerequisites for later object memory and object permanence (Sophian, 1980).
Figure 2
Claira's Movement Specification Patterns to Categorical Stimuli and Organized ResponsesStimulus Category Initial Movements Specific Organized Pattern Purpose/Goal Visual kicking movements rolling and touching localize light source Auditory hand/kicking rolling localize to sound source Music rolling rhythmic pattern synchronize body movements to beats Progressive organization was also seen in the visual games. In the first three sessions, Claira responded to the light by kicking. In later sessions she responded to the light by turning toward (rolling movement) the moving light trajectory and actually touching the light source with her hands! Both the examiner and the mother reported this response. There was one light activity which tested Claira's ability to search and locate a sequenced light source, but the responses were inconclusive as to whether Claira was attempting to locate the most recent place of disappearance. Organized progression of movement indicates an increase in specificity and discrimination.
The rolling movements reflected this progression as well. This response was seen in Claira's reactions to the music. The initial sessions involved rolling movements while the later sessions produced rhythmic movement patterns. Toward the end of the recorded sessions, Claira kept tempo with the beat for about ten seconds. A couple of weeks later (after the audited segments reported here) she increased the synchronized tempo movement for almost forty-five seconds during a single session. Figure 2 illustrates the specification and development in movement patterns as tracked.
On several occasions novel changes were introduced into the activities. Claira's first reaction was to become still. As an example, we would randomly do the vowel sound sequence without the penlight to reinforce to targeted sound of [a]. During the initial sessions Claira would still; by the later sessions she would give partial movement to the identified sound without the penlight. In the later trials, Claira demonstrated an ability to anticipate the [a] sound (which usually followed a sequence of other vowel sounds). She would kick just before the [a] sequence was sounded.
Another interesting point in these activities was Claira's potential to respond to distal perception over proximal perception (Bower, 1989). We noted that Claira was able to locate the light source in a moving trajectory when the penlight was pushed against the abdomen. Reflected in this activity is an awareness of an object in the face of its absence after a brief delay^there was an approximate 1.6 to 2 second delay between flashing sequences. In one of the bell games, the activity was performed in bathtub with the bell clangor moving light on the water's surface. Within the water medium, Claira correctly turned to the sound source both on the right and left sides. This was accomplished on the very first trial. Her response was a quick roll and rotation in the direction of the sound.
Similar responses were noted on the other two levels of the curriculum. The movement patterns were not tracked as closely as the learning level. However, we can provide some descriptions of those patterns. For the first level, "Bonding through Feelings," sharing time activities such as story-telling, commentaries on sensory experiences, poetry, and so on, were met with light movements of both the arms and legs. These movements were repetitive, soft, and flowing. The "tuning-in" exercise of the first level usually produced small movements with Claira's hands. Her mother described the experience of this exercise as similar to a strong "psychic connection" with Claira. She said that this activity created an intense bonding with Claira.
"Distancing," the mother's separation of her negative feelings from the unborn, also met with positive results. During the two-week period audited there were four occasions which produced high stress for the mother. One was a kitchen flash fire which triggered a past burn trauma, re-awakened memories of a miscarriage, distress with children, and distress with spouse. As the mother felt her anxiety and/or agitation, Claira would respond with aggravated, short, quick movements. On each occasion the mother "tuned-in" to Claira's emotional state and then used "distancing" to separate her emotions from Claira's perceived state. With each attempt, the short, quick movements almost instantaneously ceased and Claira returned to a quiet and calm state with no agitated movements.
Figure 3
Movement Responses for Feeling and Musical ActivitiesActivity Movement Response "Sharing Time" Activities slow gentle movements of arms and/or legs "Tuning-In" Awareness Activity small hand movements Maternal agitation sharp, quick, and hard movements "Distancing" Activity cessation of hard movement & return to quiet state Family Sing-a-Longs to Prenate gentle hand movements The second level, "Bonding through Music," also showed specific responses on Claira's part. In the curriculum there are four musical arrangements which involve family sing-alongs. These musical pieces act as a bridge between the social bonding and the learning activities. Claira responded to these musical pieces with gentle hand movements. In many ways the movement was similar to the responses to the social games in the third level.
A summary of the movement responses to the feeling and musical activities is presented in Figure 3. The movement responses may indicate a differential response between activities that promote attachment and those which isolate and separate from the bonding process. These movements are similar, if not the same, as the social responses in the learning activities. Again, we are presented with the possible scenario of an "intelligent" response pattern to appropriate emotional states surrounding the prenate.
The main musical arrangement was a piece entitled Suite Beginnings which used only four notes within a strong sixty cycle beat. Dissonance was built into the arrangement at selected bars in order to stimulate discernment on Claira's part. This melody was played for the unborn at quiet and calm times. Here that we saw more rhythmic and rolling movement responses to the music.
When Claira first confronted the dissonance in Suite Beginnings she would involve family sing-alongs. These musical pieces act as a bridge between the social bonding and the learning activities. Claira responded to these musical pieces with gentle hand movements. In many ways the movement was similar to the responses to the social games in the third level.
A summary of the movement responses to the feeling and musical activities is presented in Figure 3. The movement responses may indicate a differential response between activities that promote attachment and those which isolate and separate from the bonding process. These movements are similar, if not the same, as the social responses in the learning activities. Again, we are presented with the possible scenario of an "intelligent" response pattern to appropriate emotional states surrounding the prenate.
The main musical arrangement was a piece entitled Suite Beginnings which used only four notes within a strong sixty cycle beat. Dissonance was built into the arrangement at selected bars in order to stimulate discernment on Claira's part. This melody was played for the unborn at quiet and calm times. Here that we saw more rhythmic and rolling movement responses to the music.
When Claira first confronted the dissonance in Suite Beginnings she would stop and become still. It took her about one week to integrate the musical discrepancies into her movement patterns. When she did so, she would continue the movement during the dissonance so as to have continuity during the next bar.
Suite Beginnings was first played postnatally for Claira when she was two weeks old. A quiet and alert time was selected. The recorder was off to the side of the room. When started, Claira glanced in the direction of the sound. As the music continued she responded with gentle rhythmical arm movements, possibly similar to her in utero response movements. The movement continued without regard to the dissonance parts when encountered.
Claira was born in September 1991. The labor lasted for five hours. She was delivered under water and at home with the assistance of a licensed midwife. Claira weighed ten and a half pounds, was 23 inches long, and had a head circumference of 17 1/2 inches.
Of all of the postnatal information on Claira, perhaps the most interesting has been the observation of her movement patterns. Here we would like to draw attention to specific hip movements. The pattern involved a bouncing effect similar in description to some of the prenatal rhythmic movements. Without the intensive prenatal coding done, this pattern may have gone unnoticed or been seen merely as a "reflexive" pattern.
As Claira was learning to crawl all of the succeeding stages of crawling were preceded or interrupted by this movement. It was only at the point of forward crawling and alternating limb patterns that this early movement pattern disappeared. It reappeared briefly when Claira began preparations for walking at eight months of age.
It seemed that the movement was an attempt to mediate new milestones, but then became superseded by the new patterns once mastered. This particular movement seemed to decrease sharply as Claira moved from primitive to the learned reflex patterns. This scenario may indicate that the prenatal organizational patterns became integrated into greater degrees of specification with later motoric milestones.
The same movement was used to communicate as early as one month of age. When held and shown a particular event or object, Claira would begin using this movement scheme after a short period. This seemed to be Claira's way of indicating boredom and that she wanted to move to another experience. The movement scheme appears to have been part of a communication process.