Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-gq7q9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-17T21:48:48.679Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The key to understanding core knowledge resides in the fetus

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 June 2024

Vincent M. Reid Open the ORCID record for Vincent M. Reid [Opens in a new window]
Vincent M. Reid*
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, The University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand vincent.reid@waikato.ac.nz https://profiles.waikato.ac.nz/vincent.reid/
*
*Corresponding author.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

What Babies Know outlines a compelling case for why infancy research is fundamental for conceptualizing what it is to be human. There is another period in human development that is relatively inaccessible, yet is more important. In order to truly understand the nature of core knowledge, perception, and cognition, we must start not with the infant, but with the fetus.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 47 , 2024 , e139
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ackman, J. B., & Crair, M. C. (2014). Role of emergent neural activity in visual map development. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 24, 166–175. doi: 10.1016/j.conb.2013.11.011CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Csibra, G., & Gergely, G. (2011). Natural pedagogy as evolutionary adaptation. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences, 366, 1149–1157. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2010.0319CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
DeCaspar, A. J., & Fifer, W. P. (1980). Of human bonding: Newborns prefer their mothers’ voices. Science, 208(448), 1174–1176. doi: 10.1126/science.7375928CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Del Guidice, M. (2011). Alone in the dark? Modeling the conditions for visual experience in human fetuses. Developmental Psychobiology, 53, 214–219. doi: 10.1002/dev.20506CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Di Giorgio, E., Lunghi, M., Simion, F., & Vallortigara, G. (2017). Visual cues of motion that trigger animacy perception at birth: The case of self-propulsion. Developmental Science, 20, e12394. doi: 10.1111/desc.12394CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
DiPietro, J. A., Costigan, K. A., & Voegtline, K. M. (2015). Studies in fetal behavior: Revisited, renewed and reimagined. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 80(3). doi: 10.1111/mono.v80.3Google ScholarPubMed
Donovan, T., Dunn, K., Penman, A., Young, R. J., & Reid, V. M. (2020). Fetal eye movements in response to a visual stimulus. Brain and Behavior, 10(8), e01676. https://doi.org/10.1002/brb3.1676CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dunn, K., Reissland, N. N., & Reid, V. M. (2015). The functional foetal brain: A systematic preview of methodological factors in reporting foetal visual and auditory capacity. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 13, 43–52. doi: 10.1016/j.dcn.2015.04.002CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Firth, S. I., Wang, C.-T., & Feller, M. B. (2005). Retinal waves: Mechanisms and function in visual system development. Cell Calcium, 37(5), 425–432. doi: 10.1016/j.ceca.2005.01.010CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Johnson, M. H., & Morton, J. (1991). Biology and cognitive development: The case of face recognition. Blackwell.Google Scholar
Karmiloff-Smith, A. (2009). Nativism versus neuroconstructivism: Rethinking the study of developmental disorders. Developmental Psychology, 45(1), 56–63. doi: 10.1037/a0014506CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lecanuet, J.-P., & Jacquet, A.-Y. (2002). Fetal responsiveness to maternal passive swinging in low heart rate variability state: Effects of stimulation direction and duration. Developmental Psychobiology, 40(1), 57–67. doi: 10.1002/dev.10013CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mampe, B., Friederici, A. D., Cristophe, A., & Wermke, K. (2009). Newborns’ cry melody is shaped by their native language. Current Biology, 19, 1994–1997. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2009.09.064CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Myowa-Yamakoshi, M., & Takeshita, H. (2006). Do human fetuses anticipate self-oriented actions? A study by four-dimensional (4D) ultrasonography. Infancy, 10(3), 289–301. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327078in1003_5CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reid, V. M., & Dunn, K. (2021). The fetal origins of human psychological development. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 30(2), 144–150. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721420984419CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reid, V. M., Dunn, K., Young, R. J., Amu, J., Donovan, T., & Reissland, N. (2017). The human fetus preferentially engages with face-like stimuli. Current Biology, 27(12), 1825–1828. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2017.05.044CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schleger, F., Landerl, K., Muenssinger, J., Draganova, R., Reinl, M., Kiefer-Schmidt, I., … Preissl, H. (2014). Magnetoencephalographic signatures of numerosity discrimination in fetuses and neonates. Developmental Neuropsychology, 39(4), 316–329. doi: 10.1080/87565641.2014.914212CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Spelke, E. (2022). What babies know. Core Knowledge and Composition Volume 1. Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spelke, E. S., & Kinzler, K. D. (2009). Innateness, learning, and rationality. Child Development Perspectives, 3(2), 96–98. doi: 10.1111/j.1750-8606.2009.00085.xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Spencer, J. P., Samuelson, L. K., Blumberg, M. S., McMurray, B., Robinson, S. R., & Tomblin, J. B. (2009). Short arms and talking eggs: Why we should no longer abide the nativist-empiricist debate. Child Development Perspectives, 3(2), 79–87. doi: 10.1111/j.1750-8606.2009.00081.xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vogelsang, M., Vogelsang, L., Diamond, S., & Sinah, P. (2023). Prenatal auditory experience and its sequelae. Developmental Science, 26, e13278. doi: 10.1111/desc.13278CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Westermann, G., & Ruh, N. (2012). A neuroconstructivist model of past tense development and processing. Psychological Review, 119, 649–667. doi: 10.1037/a0028258CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wilkinson, N., Paikan, A., Gredebäck, G., Rea, F., & Metta, G. (2014). Staring us in the face? An embodied theory of innate face preference. Developmental Science, 17(6), 809–825. doi: 10.1111/desc.12159CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zoia, S., Blason, L., D'Ottavio, G., Bulgheroni, M., Pezzetta, E., Scabar, A., & Castello, U. (2007). Evidence of early development of action planning in the human foetus: A kinematic study. Experimental Brain Research, 176, 217–226. doi: 10.1007/s00221-006-0607-3CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed