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As I know it, there are tests with babies, where they react to primate individuals, they have seen before, just like to humans they have already seen, and are a
by masswerk 6y ago
As I know it, there are tests with babies, where they react to primate individuals, they have seen before, just like to humans they have already seen, and are able to identify strangers. However, this ability is soon lost and the "in-group" focuses to humans only. I haven't a source link on this, but there should be some documentaries on early development on YT (or similar platforms) covering this.
- colechristensen 6y agoA lot of studies like this are done very poorly and should always be taken with a healthy dose of skepticism. One immediate issue that comes up is infants can barely see at all, born with incompletely developed brains, the neural machinery that translates sensory input to perception develops with the help of the actual sensory input... it could very well be that babies stop reacting to other primates in the same way when they can see well enough to tell the difference. (just one guess of many potential issues with topics like this)
- masswerk 6y agoWell, I wouldn't deem it that unconceivable. It's a somewhat sad, but well known fact that we do narrow this "in-group" even more to the effect that we are not that good at identifying individuals of ethnic groups, we're not so familiar with. It may be well that we start with a broad, hard-wired concept and refine this by adaptation to the given environment. (It may be interesting, how developments would go with an actual "wild child".) Edit: I always liked to think that the stereotypical alien face somewhat resembles this blueprint (plus excessive light bleed as we must have experienced it at an early age).