On 18 Feb 1997, Daniel Pouzzner wrote:
> The type of maturation that occurs in the human brain in the first
> nine months post-natal is of the same variety that is occuring late
> pre-natal in other parts of the human. Humans develop locomotion and
> social signalling (language) post-natal. Their visual system, though
> fed with an essentially mature data stream from the eyes, is incapable
> at birth of sifting through the jumble of visual data except for the
> crudest identification tasks. <snip>
Disagree. There's evidence that the neonate is capable of recognizing a
schematic representation of the human face as opposed to one with its
features scrambled. I'd say that's more than the "crudest identification
task".
See:
Goren, C. et al (1975). Visual following and pattern discrimination of
face-like stimuli by newborn infants. Pediatrics, 56, 544-549
Johnson, M. et al (1991). Newborns' preferential tracking of face-like
stimuli and its subsequent decline. Cognition, 40, 1-19.
The point is that newborns are capable of more than we once thought. The
world isn't just a "blooiming, buzzing confusion" at birth (William James'
phrase).
-Stephen
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Stephen Black, Ph.D. tel: (819) 822-9600 ext 2470
Department of Psychology fax: (819) 822-9661
Bishop's University e-mail: sblack at ubishops.ca
Lennoxville, Quebec
J1M 1Z7
Canada
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