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Smarter than you think: Even young babies can demonstrate logic and common sense, according to the new research
Smarter than you think: Even young babies can demonstrate logic and common sense, according to the new research
But research suggests that babies as young as a year old are capable of using sophisticated analytical processes to correctly predict how certain scenarios will play out - even if they have no experience of the situation.
Many species are able to react to a chain of events only after they have seen a similar event occur before.
But humans use 'pure reason' to correctly guess the future, even when they are seeing something for the first time.
And scientists now believe that this ability may develop in tots before they celebrate their first birthday - much younger than previously thought.
According to Science magazine, babies watched an animation in which coloured shapes bounced around an enclosed space which had a hole at the bottom. The screen was then obscured briefly to allow one of the shapes to disappear down the hole, and then placed back in front of the infant.
The scientists noted that even young babies expressed surprise when a shape that had been furthest away from the hole had disappeared.
Researchers believe this means that the babies were using complex logic to keep track of what type of objects there were, where they were in the space, and how fast they were moving.
Here we are on sites like this talking about spiritual beings and multiple lifetimes, and there stands poor "science" still trying to figure out how a baby could display any smarts!
We are running up against the perception limitations of the scientists themselves! (Which tend to be poorer than those known as "mystics," etc.) It's really just a matter of how well one develops one's perceptions.
I suppose some day they could develop technology to read minds and see into the future for us. But not until scientists and engineers feel freer about exploring in those directions.