Analysis of Prenatal Development: Cognitive, Physical & Social Growth

This presentation provides an overview of prenatal development, focusing on cognitive, psychosocial, and physical aspects. It highlights how cognitive development involves the fetus's response to stimuli and memory of prenatal sounds, while physical development encompasses growth in weight and length, primarily in the later stages of pregnancy. The presentation also addresses psychosocial development, noting the impact of maternal stress and environment on the infant's later development, intricately linking it to the mother-infant relationship. References to relevant research underscore the importance of these prenatal factors in shaping a child's overall development. Desklib offers a platform to explore more solved assignments and study resources on this topic.

PRENATAL
DEVELOPMENT

INTRODUCTION
• Prenatal development
refers to the phase
between conception
and birth, when a baby
develops from a single
cell or embryo into a
full grown fetus.
• The entire process is
called embryogenesis,
which begins with
fertilization (Semple et
al. ,2013)

PRENATAL DEVELOPMENT :
ASPECTS
• In this case, three
aspects of prenatal
development will be
considered. They are:
 Cognitive
development
Psychosocial
development
Physical development

COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
•Cognitive
development refers
to the development
of the human brain
which deals with
information
processing, the
ability to retain
information, thoughts
and feelings, problem
solving, decision
making, memory and
so on.

PRENATAL COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT
• In the prenatal phases,
there are a number of
factors which could help
in the progress of
cognitive and motor
development of children.
• For instance, it has been
found that maternal
stress during pregnancy
would delay or hinder
the cognitive
development of the
fetus (Graignic-Philippe et
al., 2014).

PRENATAL COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT
• Fetuses respond to
sounds and other
aspects of the physical
environment and this is
neurological in nature.
• As part of cognitive
development, many
children remember the
sounds they had been
exposed to during
prenatal phases
(Marques et al. ,2013).

PRENATAL PHYSICAL
DEVELOPMENT
• Prenatal physical
development begins from
the moment of
conception and continues
until birth.
• The fetus begins to
resemble a baby during
the ninth week of
pregnancy.
• The fetus grows in both
weight and length.
• Majority of physical
growth occurs in the final
stages of pregnancy
(Dixon, 2017).

PRENATAL PSYCHOSOCIAL
DEVELOPMENT
• Psychosocial development
refers to the eight stages of
psychological development
that usually starts from
infancy.
• However, research has shown
that maternal stress and the
environment to which the
mother is exposed might
result in delayed psychosocial
development of the child in
infancy (Al Gubory, 2014).
• The first hints of psychosocial
development is experienced in
the prenatal stage, since this
development is intricately
linked with the infant’s
relationship with the mother.

REFERENCES
• Al-Gubory, K.H., (2014). Environmental pollutants and lifestyle factors
induce oxidative stress and poor prenatal development. Reproductive
BioMedicine Online, 29(1), pp.17-31.
• Dixon, A.D., (2017). Prenatal development of the facial skeleton.
In Fundamentals of craniofacial growth (pp. 59-98). CRC Press.
• Graignic-Philippe, R., Dayan, J., Chokron, S., Jacquet, A.Y. and
Tordjman, S., (2014). Effects of prenatal stress on fetal and child
development: a critical literature review. Neuroscience &
biobehavioral reviews, 43, pp.137-162.
• Marques, A.H., O'Connor, T.G., Roth, C., Susser, E. and Bjørke-Monsen,
A.L., (2013). The influence of maternal prenatal and early childhood
nutrition and maternal prenatal stress on offspring immune system
development and neurodevelopmental disorders. Frontiers in
neuroscience, 7, p.120.
• Semple, B.D., Blomgren, K., Gimlin, K., Ferriero, D.M. and Noble-
Haeusslein, L.J., (2013). Brain development in rodents and humans:
Identifying benchmarks of maturation and vulnerability to injury
across species. Progress in neurobiology, 106, pp.1-16.

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