Have you noticed that newborn babies tend to show more interest in faces than objects? Well, apparently, this is a preference that could develop around the time we are in our mother’s womb and not be something we learn once we are born.
And the fact is that fetuses would not be as isolated in there as we might initially think: they would have enough light –which would enter when it penetrated the tissues– to allow them to have visual experiences there. And, although their vision is not yet the best, they could react to images that come to them fuzzy and even show a greater interest in those that resemble human faces.
This is what emerges from a study carried out by the University of Lancaster (United Kingdom) and published in the journal Current Biology , which suggests that fetuses, from week 34 of gestation (in the third trimester), respond to visual stimuli and also feel a special predilection for those shadows that seem to represent human faces .
To carry out this research, light was projected through the uterine wall of 39 pregnant women, and the scientists explain that the fetuses turned their heads – they observed their reactions with 4D ultrasound – on more occasions when the shape they projected on the abdomen maternal resembled the face of a human being (the light patterns were presented in this case in a vertical orientation, in contrast to when they were in an inverted orientation). In fact, they were twice as likely to notice the move.
“We have shown that the fetus can distinguish between different shapes and that they prefer to follow the path of shadows that look like faces than those that do not. This preference in newborn infants has been known for decades, but until now fetal vision screening has not been attempted, ”explains lead author Vincent Reid.
“There was the possibility that the fetus would find any figure interesting, due to the novelty of the stimuli. But if this had been the case, we would not have detected differences between how they responded to the vertical and inverted versions of the stimuli: and it turned out that they reacted in a very similar way to how babies do , “adds Reid, who advises against mothers pregnant women illuminate their bellies with bright lights.
Vincent M. Reid (2017). The Human Fetus Preferentially Engages with Face-like Visual Stimuli. Curren Biology. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2017.05.044
