At just two months old, does a baby understand the world better than we imagine?
A recent scientific study has revealed that infants possess an amazing ability to distinguish between the things they see around them at an age of no more than two months, which challenges the previously held belief that these skills only develop in later stages of infancy.
The study’s findings were published Monday in the journal Nature Neuroscience , where researchers believe they could open new horizons for understanding early cognitive development in children and help doctors monitor neurological development from the first months of life.
How did scientists detect the consciousness of infants?
The study relied on brain scans performed on 130 two-month-old infants while they were awake, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a tool that allows for high-precision monitoring of brain activity.
During the experiment, the children viewed pictures belonging to 12 common categories in their first year, such as animals, trees, and inanimate objects.
The results showed that their brains exhibited different response patterns depending on the type of image presented.
Previous studies have relied on measuring the duration of an infant’s gaze at different objects, a method of limited accuracy, especially at very young ages. Some research suggested that the ability to distinguish between categories begins at 3 to 4 months of age.
But lead researcher Cleona Odoherty insists the current study clearly shows that this ability is already present at two months old, adding: “Infants interact with the world in a more complex way than we imagine.”
What happens at 9 months of age?
In the later phase of the study, a number of children returned to participate at the age of 9 months, and the researchers were able to collect data from 66 infants.
The results showed that their brains had become more efficient at distinguishing between living organisms and inanimate objects compared to when they were two months old.
Scientists believe that this gradual development may pave the way in the future for linking early brain activity to cognitive abilities in later stages of life.
Lyuba Babiou, a neuroscientist at the French National Centre for Scientific Research, described the study as “impressive and unique,” noting that performing brain imaging on very young infants is a major challenge.
She explained that one of the biggest challenges is keeping the infant lying inside the imaging device, awake and calm, without movement.
For her part, Odoherty, who conducted the research at Trinity College Dublin, confirmed that providing a comfortable environment was the key to success, as the children lay on soft pillows, while the images were projected above their heads in a manner resembling a cinema screen designed for infants.