مؤلف: Nadja Reissland

Nadja Reissland, D. PHIL (OXON), MA, BSc., is a Developmental Psychologist, Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology and Deputy Head of the Science Faculty Durham University UK.  Her work is at the forefront of the growing field of fetal psychology and is especially focused on fetal development in relation to maternal stress and depression, as well as early mother- infant interaction. Her pioneering research on  fetal movements, specifically fetal facial movements, has potential applications for obstetricians helping to identify indicators of healthy development in utero. Her research program includes the effects of maternal mental health (stress and depression) as well as health behaviours (smoking) on fetal behaviour. Furthermore she evaluates behaviours including laterality, vision and precursors to language as evidence of the development of CNS function. Barbara S. Kisilevsky, BN, MN, MA, Ph.D., is Professor Emerita, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON Canada. With academic appointments in Nursing, Psychology, and Obstetrics & Gynaecology, she established an internationally recognized  multidisciplinary research program in the area of sensory development in the perinatal period with collaborations in the USA, Europe and Asia. In over 30 years of examining behavior (e.g., cardiac, body movements) from a psychobiological perspective, she and colleagues have characterized auditory (e.g., white noise, music, mother’s voice) and vibroacoustic sensitivity in fetuses in uneventful pregnancies; identified differential behaviors in fetuses in pregnancies complicated by conditions associated with placental insufficiency; determined sensory interventions to reduce behavioral and physiological responses of premature infants to ‘pain’ stimuli; described mother-infant interactions cross-culturally; and, demonstrated a relationship between fetal voice/speech processing, newborn information processing, and infant language ability. Her laboratory has served as a training facility for international visiting scientists, Ph D, MSc, and MA theses, and numerous undergraduate summer students.