Unique contribution of behavioral paradigms to the knowledge of fetal-neonatal cognition-Brain imaging complements it when ecologically-relevant

Recent fetal research has explored brain correlates of prenatal sensory and perceptual development using imaging technologies, such as the MEG or fMRI. Such neurophysiological research seeks to map early neural development and will eventually be beneficial for early diagnosis and intervention for developmental disorders. However, the pioneering research by Anthony J. DeCasper and colleagues, in which contingent learning was used to demonstrate fetal perception and early learning, laid the foundation for the aforementioned work by showing clear empirical evidence of fetal perceptual functioning. The behavioral paradigms developed and implemented by DeCasper demonstrated that fetal perception is integrated with memory and learning processes and that sensory experience in utero influences perceptual and integrative functioning both before and after birth. Despite behavioral approaches such as those used by DeCasper and colleagues are unique and self-sufficient in demonstrating that prenatal experience influences brain functioning of the developing human, neural functional studies have started to provide precise data on the early beginnings of fetal perceptual learning not available to classical methods. Running convergent behavioral and imaging studies will provide a more comprehensive and developmentally dynamic understanding of infant perceptual functioning. The complementary aspects of these approaches and the interest of using more ecological stimuli in both of them are discussed.