Fetal–Maternal Interactions: Prenatal Psychobiological Precursors to Adaptive Infant Development

Abstract

Publisher Summary This chapter summarizes postnatal early rearing on adaptive behavior. It explains the developmental interaction between organisms and their postnatal environments. With the exceptions of the umbilical connection between mother and fetus and the suppression of behavioral coping strategies by the uterus, many developmental processes discussed as postnatal phenomena originate before birth. It is also unlikely that many developmental processes operate independent of any genetic input. The chapter discusses the effects of pre and postnatal environments relative to genetic predispositions, specifically focusing on central serotonergic functioning and the serotonin transporter gene. Prenatal stress is reviewed and the suggestion is made that the assortment of effects from negative to none and even positive effects may actually be representative of differential development. A model is presented to characterize fetal individual differences that may exist as precursors to postnatal developmental individual differences, specifically maternal–infant synchrony and/or infant reactivity. To make this argument, classical conditioning of young organisms is offered as a potential mechanism by which prenatal variation in individuals and environments may induce or facilitate the canalization of individual differences in postnatal development. From this perspective, pattern recognition and predictability in the prenatal environment classically condition the infant to be sensitive to the immediate environment, establishing the basis for the performance of postnatal adaptive behavior.