The birth of consciousness.
Early human development October 1, 2009 DOI: 10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2009.08.017 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that newborn infants exhibit several criteria of consciousness, including self-awareness, emotional expression, and cortical processing of sensory stimuli, and that their resting brain activity may correspond to a primitive stream of consciousness. |
Abstract
Newborn infants fulfil some criteria of being conscious i.e. being aware of the body, the self and the world. They are able to differentiate between self and nonself touch, express emotions and show signs of shared feelings. They process sensory impressions including pain at a cortical level. They remember rhythmic sounds and vowels which they have been exposed to during fetal life. The spontaneous resting activity discovered in the cortex of newborn infants may correspond to what William James called "the stream of consciousness".