THEY KNOW! –
Jan. 2, 2024 – When does consciousness begin? There is evidence that some form of conscious experience is present by birth, and perhaps even in late pregnancy, an international team of researchers led by my colleague Tim Bayne and I have concluded in a new review manuscript. The findings, recently published in the peer-reviewed journal Trends in Cognitive Science, have important clinical, ethical, and potentially legal implications.
In the study, entitled “Consciousness in the Cradle: on the Emergence of Infant Experience,” we argue that, by birth, the infant’s developing brain is likely capable of conscious experiences. Although each of us was once a baby, infant consciousness remains mysterious, because infants cannot tell us what they think or feel, according to my colleague Dr. Tim Bayne, professor of philosophy at Monash University. “Nearly everyone who has held a newborn infant has wondered what, if anything, it is like to be a baby. But of course, we cannot remember our infancy, and consciousness researchers have disagreed on whether consciousness arises early (at birth or shortly after) or late – by one year of age, or even much later.”
