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When do babies really become conscious? Researchers

When do babies really become conscious? Researchers, Babies are capable of conscious thought and of storing memories from as early as five-months-old, according to new research.


Scientists at the National Centre for Scientific Research in Paris discovered that babies can briefly store images in their ‘working memories’ by the time they reach five-months-old.


When an adult brain detects something, like a moving object, a signal travels through the brain allowing it to briefly store the image.

Babies are capable of conscious thought and of storing memories from as early as five-months-old

WORKING MEMORY



Working memory is the system that holds multiple pieces of information in the mind, where they can be manipulated - rather like a 'scratchpad' for the brain.


Working memory can help us overcome a particular problem or perform a task, like mental arithmetic, using a phone number or following a set of directions.

However, the amount of information we can hold is limited and the information itself is very unstable.

If we are distracted, it can easily be lost.

Working memory is essential for learning and development, particularly in childhood.


According to Science Mag, a spike in brain activity is visible when this happens and also when the brain’s prefrontal cortex receives the message – this spike in brain activity is known as a ‘late slow wave’.


The researchers wanted to discover when these spikes in brain activity could also be detected in babies.


They studied the brain activity of more than 240 babies but only 80 remained still enough for the experiment to be successful.


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Each baby was shown a picture of a face for less than a second.


Those who were at least one-year-old displayed the same brain reaction as would be seen in an adult, but even five-month-old babies demonstrated signs of a ‘late slow wave’ – but one that was slower than that observed in older children.


The researchers believe that this ‘late slow wave’ could suggest conscious thought in young babies.

When an adult brain detects something, like a moving object, a signal travels through the brain allowing it to briefly store the image

Their next plan is to study how these signs of conscious thought are related to learning, especially to the development of language.


Cognitive neuroscientist Sid Kouider told Science Mag: ‘We make the assumption that babies are learning very quickly and that they're fully unconscious of what they learn.
‘Maybe that's not true.’

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