Association of prenatal maternal perceived stress with a sexually dimorphic measure of cognition in 4.5-month-old infants.

ABSTRACT: Maternal prenatal stress can adversely impact subsequent child neurodevelopment, but little is known about its effect on cognitive development in infancy. This analysis of 107 infants from a prospective birth cohort assessed whether prenatal stress disrupts sexually dimorphic performance typically observed on a physical reasoning task. Maternal stress was assessed at 8-14 and 33-37 gestational weeks using the Perceived Stress Scale. Stress was defined as: low (scores below the median at both times), medium (scores above the median at one of the two times), and high (scores above the median at both times). At 4.5 months infants saw videos of two events: one impossible and the other possible. In the impossible event a box was placed against a wall without support underneath. In the possible

SUBMITTER: Merced-Nieves FM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6980724 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jan - Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature