Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 5, 2026

Quantifying Learning in Young Infants: Tracking Leg Actions During a Discovery-learning Task
11:18

Quantifying Learning in Young Infants: Tracking Leg Actions During a Discovery-learning Task

Published on: June 1, 2015

10.3K

Where is the baby in core knowledge?

Hyowon Gweon1, Peter Zhu1

  • 1Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA gweon@stanford.edu; pgzhu@stanford.eduhttps://sll.stanford.edu.

The Behavioral and Brain Sciences
|June 27, 2024
PubMed

Insights

Investigating babies as active participants, not just observers, reveals how their actions shape early intelligence. This approach enhances our understanding of infant perception, action, and self-awareness development.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Cognitive Science
  • Infant Studies

Background:

  • The core knowledge proposal explains infant cognition but may overlook the infant's active role.
  • Understanding infant intelligence requires examining the interplay between perception and action.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To explore infant cognition by focusing on the baby as an actor.
  • To investigate the origins of human intelligence through the perception-action interface.
  • To understand how infants learn about themselves in their environment.

Main Methods:

  • Observational studies of infant behavior.
  • Analysis of infant interaction with their environment.
  • Theoretical framework integrating perception and action.

Main Results:

  • Viewing babies as actors provides a richer understanding of their cognitive development.
  • The perception-action interface is crucial for developing early intelligence.
  • Infants actively construct self-knowledge through interaction.

Conclusions:

  • Shifting focus to the active infant enhances theories of cognitive development.
  • Emphasizing the perception-action loop is key to understanding infant intelligence.
  • Infant self-awareness emerges from active engagement with the world.

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