Thanks to the various studies that have been carried out over the years, we know that when babies are born they are capable of seeing, but in reality they see practically nothing, since their vision evolves during their first months of life .
However, just because they do not see clearly does not mean that they do not know where to look, because according to a study, the brain of babies is programmed to look for and observe faces and places from the first week of birth .
Published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , the study developed by psychologists from Emory University in Atlanta, United States, analyzed the visual cortex of newborn babies through functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI for its acronym in English). ).
By scanning the brains of babies, it was found that apparently the brains of babies from six days old are programmed with the specific tasks of looking for and observing faces and places .
With the results of this research, it is shown that the patterns of brain activity of babies are similar to those of adults , although they are not yet as strong:
” Much of the scaffolding for the human visual cortex is already in place, alongside patterns of brain activity, ” explains Frederik Kamps, author of the study in a statement posted on the university’s website.
According to the researchers, this study is important, since understanding how the baby’s brain is organized could help solve some questions when something goes wrong , such as if this facial recognition is not well connected in the visual cortex of the baby, it could be an indicator of some disorder associated with aversion to eye contact:
” By diagnosing the problem early, we could intervene earlier and take advantage of the incredible malleability of the baby brain, ” says Daniel Dilks, another of the researchers.
The remarkable thing about this study then are two aspects: that the baby’s brain is programmed to look for and observe faces even though they do not see clearly yet , and that knowing this function could open the doors to earlier treatments for some specific disorders related to contact. visual.
Photo | iStock
Via | Red Tricycle
In Babies and more | When do babies start to see? How does a newborn see you? (and at what distance it recognizes you), Maintaining eye contact with your baby facilitates communication between the two
