A multi-level analysis of motor and behavioural dynamics in 9-month-old preterm and term-born infants during changing emotional and interactive contexts

Abstract

Abstract Computational analysis of infant movement has significant potential to reveal markers of developmental health. We report two studies employing dynamic analyses of motor kinematics and motor behaviours, which characterise movement at two levels, in 9-month-old infants. We investigate the effect of preterm birth ( 37 weeks of gestation), infants born preterm showed greater permutation entropy in their left ankle and torso movements, but not in right ankle or wrist movements. We did not find effects of preterm birth or emotional context on micro-level behavioural dynamics. Our methodology and findings inform future work using multiscale entropy to study infant development. Dynamic analysis of behaviour is a relatively young field, and applications to emotional self-regulation requires further methodological development.

Keywords

• Multiscale entropy
• Permutation entropy
• Recurrence quantification analysis
• Preterm birth
• Sensors
• Behavioural micro-analysis