As we may be the most sentient beings within this planet, one may wonder how this came to be. The science behind conscience development is still very much so a mystery as infants aren't able to give verbal feedback on what they may be thinking or feeling. At which point did we begin to form consciousness and perceive? The definition of consciousness may vary slightly depending on who you ask, with some people believing we are conscious before birth, during, and way after birth into early adolescence. Either way, it is this specific component of the human experience that sets us apart from our common pets, insects and house plants, enabling us to find the best possible ways to survive and become the top of the food chain as we developed the world as we know it today.
One specific research article titled "Does Consciousness Begin Before Birth" described by Fiona Tyrell based on the original study "Consciousness in the cradle: on the emergence of infant experience" by Tim Bayne conducted by an international research team from Trinity College Dublin (published October 12, 2023) gives insight on the notion that consciousness does indeed emerge before birth, during the late stage of pregnancy and even immediately after birth. It presents findings of infant consciousness as measured through brain imaging, newborn sensory integration processes as well as the perceptual capabilities of infants, as compared to adults. According to this article as found on Neuroscience News, it is apparent that "by birth the infant’s developing brain is capable of conscious experiences that can make a lasting imprint on their developing sense of self and understanding of their environment" (Tyrell 2). This entails the encoding of sensory details such as sounds from varied languages, including the sound of their mother's voice, which is due to perceptual capacity being stronger for infants than in adults. This was discovered by using one way and two way consciousness markers through brain imaging in adults which were then applied to assess infant consciousness to view thalamocortical connectivity. As it turns out, though infants aren't as adept at visual processing compared to adults they still have the capability to distinguish visual stimuli and can also discriminate facial expressions of happiness to disgust. This is fascinating because quite often, as older persons we don't always tend to understand when children begin to form their own thoughts, ideas and experiences and we may overlook this process, writing it off as less significant than the integration processes of adults who already lead their own lives since children have less developed minds. I feel that it is important to note that each initial process has a very profound effect on children as they grow because they nurture the type of person the child will become in the future.
This can also possibly directly correlate to the findings of a study titled "Relations Between Frontal EEG Maturation and Inhibitory Control in the Prediction of Children’s Early Academic Skills" by Margaret Whedon, Nicole B. Perry and Martha Ann Bell which expresses findings that the rate of prefrontal cortex maturation is important for the expression of inhibitory control (IC) within children. According to the study, children with higher signals of alpha waves which are emitted while the brain is idly awake in the prefrontal cortex may positively correlate with a higher rate of frontal lobe maturation, allowing for better performance during academic tasks including math and reading. This was measured using EEG technology as children were Woodcock-Johnson tests to complete. At age 4, the childrens' inhibitory control abilities were assessed in this way and then again at age 6 to find the correlation between higher alpha wave frequencies and prefrontal maturation, which was positive. Given the findings of both research articles, it makes sense to conclude that infants who were able to successfully integrate many different types of stimuli and conscious experiences could exhibit more development within their frontal lobe connectivity that supports the process of demonstrating inhibitory control.
References
Tyrell, Fiona, "Does Consciousness Begin Before Birth?" Neuroscience News, Oct. 2023, https://neurosciencenews.com/consciousness-pregnancy-neurodevelopment-24943/
Bayne, Tim, “Consciousness in the cradle: on the emergence of infant experience” Trends in Cognitive Sciences, Volume 27, Issue 12, 1135 - 1149, Oct. 2023, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2023.08.018
Whedon, Margaret, et al. “Relations between Frontal EEG Maturation and Inhibitory Control in Preschool in the Prediction of Children’s Early Academic Skills.” Brain and Cognition, volume 146, no. 105636, Dec. 2020, p. 105636, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bandc.2020.105636.
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