Obstetrical medication and the human newborn: the influence of alphaprodine hydrochloride on visual behaviour.
The visual habituation of two groups of newborn infants was tested at a mean age of 2.9 days with large achromatic squares of varying luminance. Mothers of the infants in one group received no medication during labour; mothers in the second group received a single dose of the synthetic narcotic alphaprodine hydrochloride. The two groups did not differ in the number of trials to reach the criterion, but newborns in the no-medication group fixated the stimuli for much longer periods than did infants in the alphaprodine group. First-fixation times of babies in the alphaprodine group were shorter when drug-to-delivery intervals were longer. These results, although tentative, imply that babies of medicated and unmedicated mothers differ in the manner in which they respond to visual stimuli.
Adams
R J
RJ
Department of Psychology, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. Johns.
D000522:Alphaprodine / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000773:Anesthesia, Obstetrical / Q000009:adverse effects*; D005260:Female; D006185:Habituation, Psychophysiologic / Q000187:drug effects*; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn / Q000502:physiology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000187:drug effects*
D000522:Alphaprodine