Infant Movement Analysis for Atypical Brain Development

Beth Smith from the University of Southern California in the U.S. will determine whether monitoring the arm movements of infants can be used to as a non-invasive proxy for neural development to help identify defects and aid treatment. They will perform a longitudinal study of 45 children, including preterm infants, who will be assessed monthly from one to six months of age. Motion sensory equipment will measure the type and quality of their arm movements, which will be correlated with cortical brain activity measured via electroencephalography (EEG). These data will then be used to generate standard curves of brain function based on movement that may be able to identify children with impaired neural development.