Behavior During the Prenatal Period: Adaptive for Development and Survival

Of all the stages of development, the prenatal period has aroused little interest as a crucial time for development. However, rather than being a simple byproduct of maturation, fetal behavior promotes survival and the transition to the postnatal world. Moreover, prenatal sensory experience shapes the structure of the brain, beginning the development of neural processing capabilities required for interpreting key stimuli (e.g., language). To understand behavioral development completely, we must pay more attention to the formative influences of the prenatal period.