Magnetoencephalographic signatures of conscious processing before birth.
Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience June 1, 2021 Julia Moser, Franziska Schleger, Magdalene Weiss et al.
Fetuses in the last trimester of pregnancy show signs of hierarchical rule learning, a cognitive ability linked to conscious processing. Using fetal magnetoencephalography on 56 healthy fetuses between gestational weeks 25 and 40, an auditory oddball paradigm with first- and second-order regularities was presented. Brain responses to standard versus deviant tones indicated formation of a memory trace for the second-order regularity, an ability that develops with physiological brain maturation and was reliably present only in fetuses older than week 35. Autonomic nervous system activity, replicating findings in newborns, showed the importance of activity state for cognitive processes. These results support the assumption that fetuses in the last weeks of gestation can consciously process stimuli from outside the womb.