The birth of consciousness.
Early human development October 1, 2009 Hugo Lagercrantz
Newborn infants meet some criteria for consciousness, including awareness of body, self, and world. They can differentiate between self and nonself touch, express emotions, and show signs of shared feelings. They process sensory impressions, including pain, at a cortical level and remember rhythmic sounds and vowels from fetal life. The spontaneous resting activity in the newborn cortex may correspond to William James's 'stream of consciousness.' The authors argue that these findings suggest newborns possess a form of consciousness, though they do not claim full adult-like consciousness.