Abstract

Development is a continuous causal process involving complex interaction between genes, body, nervous system and environment. Although the whole process may be too complicated, fetal interaction and development can be relatively more tractable to model. From a dynamical systems point of view, the beginning part of the temporal development trajectory provides an important information about the underlying principles governing the developmental dynamics. We constructed a computer simulation model of a human fetus. It consists of a musculo-skeletal body, uterus, and basic nervous system. It exhibits spontaneous motor development and sensory-motor map organization comparable to human data. Also, by changing the model parameters, we can simulate “atypical” development. Our series of experiments shows that sensory-motor experiences in the fetal period can be crucial to the formation of body representations, which are significantly affected under “preterm birth” conditions, providing new insights about the developmental origins of social cognition and autism spectrum disorders.