A Baby Will Beat You at This Test

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Babies are born with an incredible range of abilities, both auditory and visual, that allow them to perceive the world in ways adults cannot. They can distinguish between sounds from every language, recognize subtle differences in faces across species, and process details that seem insignificant to older brains. However, many of these abilities fade over time due to a process called perceptual narrowing.

Perceptual narrowing is the brain’s way of streamlining its skills based on experience. As babies grow, their brains prioritize what’s useful in their environment and gradually discard abilities that aren’t needed. For example, while a six-month-old can easily tell apart different monkey faces, most adults struggle to do the same. Similarly, babies can initially hear sound distinctions from all languages, but by their first birthday, they become attuned only to the languages they hear regularly. This process shapes how we interact with the world and defines what we perceive.

For more info, check out the paper:
"Plasticity of face processing in infancy" by O. Pascalis (2005)