What do We Know about Neonatal Cognition?
Research on neonatal cognition has developed very recently in comparison with the long history of research on child behavior. The last sixty years of research have provided a great amount of evidence for infants’ numerous cognitive abilities. However, only little of this research concerns newborn in...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2013-02-01
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| Series: | Behavioral Sciences |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.mdpi.com/2076-328X/3/1/154 |
| _version_ | 1819228577007140864 |
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| author | Aurélie Coubart Maria Dolores de de Hevia Véronique Izard Arlette Streri |
| author_facet | Aurélie Coubart Maria Dolores de de Hevia Véronique Izard Arlette Streri |
| author_sort | Aurélie Coubart |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Research on neonatal cognition has developed very recently in comparison with the long history of research on child behavior. The last sixty years of research have provided a great amount of evidence for infants’ numerous cognitive abilities. However, only little of this research concerns newborn infants. What do we know about neonatal cognition? Using a variety of paradigms, researchers became able to probe for what newborns know. Amongst these results, we can distinguish several levels of cognitive abilities. First, at the perceptual or sensory level, newborns are able to process information coming from the social world and the physical objects through all their senses. They are able to discriminate between object shapes and between faces; that is, they are able to detect invariants, remember and recognize them. Second, newborns are able to abstract information, to compare different inputs and to match them across different sensory modalities. We will argue that these two levels can be considered high-level cognitive abilities: they constitute the foundations of human cognition. Furthermore, while some perceptual competencies can stem from the fetal period, many of these perceptual and cognitive abilities cannot be a consequence of the environment surrounding the newborn before birth. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-23T10:59:29Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-16b392a7782b43da9261f09214b92046 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-328X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-23T10:59:29Z |
| publishDate | 2013-02-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Behavioral Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-16b392a7782b43da9261f09214b920462022-12-21T17:49:40ZengMDPI AGBehavioral Sciences2076-328X2013-02-013115416910.3390/bs3010154What do We Know about Neonatal Cognition?Aurélie CoubartMaria Dolores de de HeviaVéronique IzardArlette StreriResearch on neonatal cognition has developed very recently in comparison with the long history of research on child behavior. The last sixty years of research have provided a great amount of evidence for infants’ numerous cognitive abilities. However, only little of this research concerns newborn infants. What do we know about neonatal cognition? Using a variety of paradigms, researchers became able to probe for what newborns know. Amongst these results, we can distinguish several levels of cognitive abilities. First, at the perceptual or sensory level, newborns are able to process information coming from the social world and the physical objects through all their senses. They are able to discriminate between object shapes and between faces; that is, they are able to detect invariants, remember and recognize them. Second, newborns are able to abstract information, to compare different inputs and to match them across different sensory modalities. We will argue that these two levels can be considered high-level cognitive abilities: they constitute the foundations of human cognition. Furthermore, while some perceptual competencies can stem from the fetal period, many of these perceptual and cognitive abilities cannot be a consequence of the environment surrounding the newborn before birth.http://www.mdpi.com/2076-328X/3/1/154newbornperceptioncognitionmemory |
| spellingShingle | Aurélie Coubart Maria Dolores de de Hevia Véronique Izard Arlette Streri What do We Know about Neonatal Cognition? Behavioral Sciences newborn perception cognition memory |
| title | What do We Know about Neonatal Cognition? |
| title_full | What do We Know about Neonatal Cognition? |
| title_fullStr | What do We Know about Neonatal Cognition? |
| title_full_unstemmed | What do We Know about Neonatal Cognition? |
| title_short | What do We Know about Neonatal Cognition? |
| title_sort | what do we know about neonatal cognition |
| topic | newborn perception cognition memory |
| url | http://www.mdpi.com/2076-328X/3/1/154 |
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