Spontaneous embryonic motility: an enduring legacy

Abstract

This chapter addresses the influential contributions Viktor Hamburger has made to our understanding of embryonic motor behavior. With his classic review, published in 1963, Viktor Hamburger opened up the field of embryonic motor behavior, which had lain almost completely dormant for many years. He focused his observations and experimental studies on the spontaneously generated embryonic movements rather than on reflex responses. As a result, he and his colleagues firmly established the central generation of embryonic motility as a basic component of embryonic behavior in chicks. These studies were also extended to rat fetuses, showing that similar principles apply to mammalian fetuses. All of us who have followed after him owe Viktor Hamburger an enormous debt of gratitude for his pioneering work.