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>> Babies are pre-wired to learn language, recognize shapes, determine "intent", etc. I tend to disagree. In my perception (as father of two if it counts) is t

>> Babies are pre-wired to learn language, recognize shapes, determine "intent", etc. I tend to disagree. In my perception (as father of two if it counts) is that babies are very poorly wired if at all. They struggle with basic survival skills like breastfeeding. Some babies get it in the first couple of days, other take weeks of "training" with the help of adults. Awareness of needing sleep seems to be entirely absent (crying is not the best strategy for animals to sleep, huge bug). Things like language, shapes and intent, are all developed later, and can go entirely undeveloped without stimulation and feedback, so I'd say they are already a product of learning and not pre-wiring. The only thing I can think of that is most certainly pre-wired is crying. They nail that from day one. Also don't forget that they are already sensory capable of a lot several weeks before being born, and voice recognition for one thing is something they learn around that time.

jacquesm 11y ago
Single-bit output (ok, maybe 4 if you count volume) and multiple confusing stimuli as input and barely functional actuators, you should be amazed at how well babies manage to condition their parents into acting like parents right from the get-go! Breastfeeding is a tough process, how long does it take a fighter pilot to learn how to properly dock to a supply plane for mid-air refuelling? That's a complicated procedure with lots of bits an pieces that need to work just-so for milk delivery to take place and quite often it is not just the infant that needs to learn.
adekok 11y ago
> babies are very poorly wired if at all. As a father myself, I don't agree. I find it impossible to believe that babies are wired poorly, or randomly, or just are amorphous blobs of learning. They're active and inter-active from a very early age. Even before they're born. Their brain is still growing connections, and re-wiring itself based on sensory input / feedback. i.e. blind people co-opt the vision centers to process sound. But there is a vision center. There are portions of the brain which are pre-wired to be good at certain activities. If nothing else, look at the inputs. The nerves from the retina and ears go somewhere. They don't just disappear into random parts of the brain. They're pre-wired to certain areas. Those areas are in turn pre-wired to be good at accepting certain inputs. In contrast, many animals have much more hard-wired behavior. And insects are little automatons. Are we really going to say that animals are pre-wired with... nothing? And that they learn all of their behavior after they're born? I find that even harder to believe than the idea that the brain is pre-wired to be good at some things.
niklasni1 11y ago
> Awareness of needing sleep seems to be entirely absent Indeed. And this can persist into adulthood...
return0 11y ago
Prewired doesn't necessarily mean wired at birth. Human development is largely genetically prescribed. With regards to language, most neuroscientists tend to agree that we have some innate capacity to acquire language very fast after a certain age, and assume that this is at least to a large part genetic. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_module http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_module

jacquesm 11y ago

Single-bit output (ok, maybe 4 if you count volume) and multiple confusing stimuli as input and barely functional actuators, you should be amazed at how well babies manage to condition their parents into acting like parents right from the get-go! Breastfeeding is a tough process, how long does it take a fighter pilot to learn how to properly dock to a supply plane for mid-air refuelling? That's a complicated procedure with lots of bits an pieces that need to work just-so for milk delivery to take place and quite often it is not just the infant that needs to learn.

adekok 11y ago

> babies are very poorly wired if at all. As a father myself, I don't agree. I find it impossible to believe that babies are wired poorly, or randomly, or just are amorphous blobs of learning. They're active and inter-active from a very early age. Even before they're born. Their brain is still growing connections, and re-wiring itself based on sensory input / feedback. i.e. blind people co-opt the vision centers to process sound. But there is a vision center. There are portions of the brain which are pre-wired to be good at certain activities. If nothing else, look at the inputs. The nerves from the retina and ears go somewhere. They don't just disappear into random parts of the brain. They're pre-wired to certain areas. Those areas are in turn pre-wired to be good at accepting certain inputs. In contrast, many animals have much more hard-wired behavior. And insects are little automatons. Are we really going to say that animals are pre-wired with... nothing? And that they learn all of their behavior after they're born? I find that even harder to believe than the idea that the brain is pre-wired to be good at some things.

niklasni1 11y ago

> Awareness of needing sleep seems to be entirely absent Indeed. And this can persist into adulthood...

return0 11y ago

Prewired doesn't necessarily mean wired at birth. Human development is largely genetically prescribed. With regards to language, most neuroscientists tend to agree that we have some innate capacity to acquire language very fast after a certain age, and assume that this is at least to a large part genetic. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_module http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_module