Instructed perception in prenatal ultrasound examinations

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to elucidate various practices for the structuring of images on an ultrasound monitor during prenatal ultrasound examinations. This study focuses on the practices that healthcare providers employ to invite pregnant women to differentiate a gray-tone image on the ultrasound monitor from the image’s background. In sequential environments in which pregnant women display difficulty in differentiating an image on the screen in response to the healthcare provider’s invitation, the healthcare provider employs practices that require additional bodily involvement to structure the images on the screen. Furthermore, on certain occasions, the healthcare provider also points to a particular abdominal location with the ultrasound transducer, which is held against the abdomen to produce the very image being differentiated. This study demonstrates that the image on the ultrasound monitor is intrinsically embodied and spatially (between the screen and the participants’ bodies) and modally (among vocal/auditory, visual, and tactile modes of orientation) distributed. In addition, the study suggests an interaction-organizational ground for an aspect of the ‘personification of the fetus’ through obstetric ultrasound.