# NEONATAL ASSESSMENT:  A PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL APPROACH

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIV OF MARYLAND, COLLEGE PARK · 1994 · $289,980

## Abstract

The proposal describes research that evaluates the hypothesis that
cardiac vagal tone and vagal reactivity measures will contribute to the
identification of neonates at greatest risk for developmental problems.
Cardiac vagal tone is assessed as a functional indicator of central
nervous system regulation of autonomic function.  The proposal outlines
four experiments designed to demonstrate that cardiac vagal tone will
augment clinical risk factors and existing assessment procedures in
predicting developmental outcome.  The proposal describes procedures to
measure individual response profiles in the vagal tone parameters of
level, development, and reactivity.  Experiments 1, 2, and 3 will
evaluate long term outcome of neonates who have been previously evaluated
in either the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) or fullterm nursery.
Experiments 4 and 5 represent at integrated research project that builds
on previous finding of the level, development, and reactivity of cardiac
vagal tone in preterm neonates in the NICU.  Experiments 4 and 5 will
focus on the dimensions of vagal reactivity and will assess the
integrative capacity of the central control of vagal function by
evaluating the coordination among cardiac vagal tone, heart rate, and
sucking in response to gustatory stimulation (5% and 15% sources).  In
addition, individual differences in vagal evaluate whether knowledge of
the integrative capacity of the vagal system derived from responses to
gustatory stimuli is related to developmental outcome in high-risk and
low-risk preterm neonates (Experiment 4) and fullterm neonates with and
without perinatal asphyxia (Experiment 5).  Follow-up studies are
designed to evaluate at 9-months vagal reactivity during sustained
attention, vagal reactivity to novelty, cognitive development, motor
development, and temperament.  At 3 years of age, developmental outcome
is assessed via measures of cognitive processes, social behavior, and
temperament.  The objective of Experiments 4 and 5 is to evaluate whether
the gustatory stimulation paradigm can be used in the NICU as a
diagnostic procedure that will provide additional information regarding
health status and developmental outcome.  The proposed research is an
attempt to demonstrate that non-invasive health status and is related to
developmental outcome.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 2198612
- **Project number:** 2R01HD022628-09A1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIV OF MARYLAND, COLLEGE PARK
- **SAM.gov UEI:** NPU8ULVAAS23
- **Principal Investigator:** STEPHEN W PORGES
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 1994
- **Award amount:** $289,980
- **Award type:** 2
- **Project period:** 1987-07-01 → 1998-11-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/2198612

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 2198612, NEONATAL ASSESSMENT:  A PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL APPROACH (2R01HD022628-09A1). Retrieved via MORVS 2026-10-25 from https://api.morvs.ai/grant/nih/2198612. Licensed CC0.

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