Goal-oriented newborns
Newborn babies aren’t just bundles of reflexes. Within two days of birth, infants pay special attention to adults’ simple, goal-directed actions, say psychologist Laila Craighero of the University of Ferrara in Italy and her colleagues. Newborns looked longer at a video of a hand reaching out to grasp a big blue ball than at videos showing a hand grasping the ball and then moving away from it or a hand reaching out to grasp at air, the researchers will report in Cognition.
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