Research from the University of Birmingham shows that babies as young as four months old can understand the interaction between their bodies and space. The study, which involved experiments on touch and vision, shows that babies' brains are able to link vision and touch to promote their spatial awareness. We plan to conduct further studies investigating these abilities in newborns.
New research from the University of Birmingham shows that babies as young as four months old can sense how their bodies interact with the space around them. The research results were published today (November 21) in the journal Scientific Reports, opening a new page in the development of self-awareness.
Birmingham Baby Lab Experimental Methods
Experts at the Birmingham Baby Lab showed babies a ball on a screen that moved towards them or away from them. When the ball on the screen was closest to the baby, the baby's hand was "touched" (a slight vibration) and their brain activity was measured. Data collection for this study took place at Goldsmiths, University of London.
Researchers found that starting at four months of age, infants' somatosensory (tactile) brain activity increased when objects were moved toward them.
Dr Giulia Orioli, a psychology researcher at the University of Birmingham who led the study, said: "Our findings show that even in babies' first months of life, even before they learn to reach for things, their multisensory brains are wired to connect what they see and what they feel. This means they can sense the space around them and understand how their body interacts with it. This is sometimes referred to as peribody space."
"Of course, humans do this regularly as adults, using our combined senses to sense where we are in space and to predict when we will touch an object. But now we know that babies begin to show signs of this very early in their development, which raises the question of how much of these abilities are learned or innate."
Observations on older infants and future research directions
The researchers also explored how accidental "touch" might have affected some of the older babies in the study. They found that in 8-month-old babies, the babies' brain activity showed signs of surprise when the ball on the screen moved away from them before their hands were touched.
Andrew Bremner, professor of developmental psychology, commented: "Seeing older infants show surprise responses suggests that they did not expect the visual direction of the object to move in a way that would trigger a touch. This suggests that as babies grow in their first year of life, their brains develop a more sophisticated understanding of how their bodies exist in the space around them."
Next, the researchers hope to follow up with younger and older participants. Studies of adults can shed light on the types of brain activity babies are developing. They also hope to see early signs of whether newborns have these "multisensory" abilities.
Dr. Orioli concluded: "Working with newborns is a challenge because they spend most of their time sleeping and eating, but we are starting to have some success working with babies in this age group, and it would be fascinating to see if babies as young as a few days old already have the basis for a sense of body space. If so, we may be looking at the origins of human consciousness."