After identifying a range of facial expressions such as laughter and crying, researchers have shown that babies develop a range of facial movements while in the womb, reports Science Daily.
For the first time, a group of U.K. researchers was able to show that recognizable facial expressions develop before birth, and that, as the pregnancy progress from six to nine months, the facial movements become more complex.
At 24 weeks, fetuses were able to move one facial muscle at a time, stretching their lips or opening their mouths, and by 36 weeks, they were able to combine a number of facial movements, for example a lip stretch, lowering of the eyebrows, and deepening the nasolabial furrow.
"We have found so much more than we expected,” said Dr Nadja Reissland from Durham University. “We knew that the baby blinks before birth and that some research has identified scowling before birth. However in this study for the first time we have developed a method of coding and analysis which allows us to objectively trace the increasing complexity of movements over time which results in recognizable facial expressions."
The discovery could help potentially identify health problems in utero, since there is a link between fetal behavioural patterns and the development of the fetal brain. Looking at differences between normal and abnormal fetal facial developments may indicate potential brain development issues.
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