Throughout history, the spirit has been described in various ways, with advances in research and in some disciplines we now know more, however, have you ever wondered what a baby’s mind looks like?Child? This is an exciting topic that has been rigorously studied for a short time.
Several authors throughout history have regarded adult babies as miniature beings larger than as qualitatively different beings.
- Traveling back in time.
- We also found some curious ideas.
- For example.
- Descartes believed that babies were trapped at the present time.
- While William James argued that the world of babies could be reduced to tinnitus confusion.
Over time and various philosophical, psychological and biological theories, knowledge and reflection have become more accurate and profound, so in this article, we will try to understand a little better how babies’ minds work and why and how they differ from adults.
Today’s neuroscience has the means to highlight or discard assumptions from the past. Using techniques that measure babies’ brain activity, we know they are able to process information in the short term.
Therefore, they have the ability to capture various sensations and give them some meaning.
This is how babies can detect unusual stimuli, even if they don’t focus on something specific, it’s a wonderful and necessary skill to learn, and the absence of prejudice leads to greater potential for creativity.
We also know that the baby has more neurons than the adult brain. As we develop, there is a process called neural pruning, in which we eliminate connections and neurons that are not as useful to us.
In addition, after analyzing connections in the regions of the baby’s cerebral cortex, they were found to be better connected than in adults, especially in regions dedicated to executive functions.
It is fascinating, and it could be precisely one of the phenomena responsible for being able to learn so much in the early stages of our lives. Our internal brain wiring would be a facilitator.
As in the adult brain, neurotransmitters are also important in the baby’s brain; in this sense, their particular release would make babies less selective by filtering out stimuli.
David Chamberlain, a Californian psychologist, studied the minds of babies and in his book The Mind of the Newborn Baby focuses on the most important myths associated with the baby’s mind.
In contrast, perinatal psychology has shown the importance of the baby’s relationships for future development, while behaviorism has focused on the functioning of addiction and consciousness.
Thus, thanks to these and other approaches, we now know that the baby has functions that, in the past, were considered non-existent.
As babies get older, they change. Some of these changes are obvious, while others are so gradual or internal that they go unnoticed.
For example, a child between the age of zero and two learns to manipulate objects through the senses. In addition, you can start exploring, have more access to language, and start developing your attachment. Therefore, the mind will not be the same as that of a 3-year-old.
But why? It turns out that when interacting with the environment, the baby’s brain changes, makes new connections and rejects those that are not effective, this occurs depending on the stage of development in which it is located.
Then, at the brain level, changes occur month by month, this will depend on the biological factors of the child and their interaction with the environment, so each step favors the baby’s development.
For example, according to María Caballero, author of professor and book by Professor Neuroeducacao, exploration promotes the integration of the callous body, a structure that joins the two hemispheres.
As a result, we have developed a cross pattern, vestibular and propioceptive system, visual convergence and eye focus, sense of touch, future lateralization and future writing.
In short, a baby’s mind is truly fascinating; connects after each learning, needs the other to foster ideal development and, in order not to have prejudices, can have a wonderful creative capacity.
On the other hand, we still have a lot of unanswered questions and others we haven’t even asked yet: research is working on that.