PS1006 - 1 - The initial state

Note that this is an automatically generated podcasts containing some inaccuracies.This lecture explores the initial state of newborns, examining innate abilities and learning within the womb, highlighting the surprisingly noisy prenatal environment and fetal learning capacities. It then discusses perceptual abilities at birth, including auditory preferences, taste responses, and a sophisticated, potentially innate understanding of faces, even noting the unique human eye structure. The discussion moves to developmental milestones, outlining typical ages for achieving various linguistic and motor skills while acknowledging individual and cultural variability. Finally, the lecture considers drivers of developmental change, illustrating through bird song and the emergence of Nicaraguan Sign Language that some developmental shifts can occur seemingly independent of specific environmental input, suggesting an inherent biological influence alongside the impact of experience.This podcast has been generated automatically and contains some inaccuracies.