A baby's urge to chew on Lego is automatic, not learned

摘要

Don't blame the baby for trying to eat that Lego piece. Humans may have a brain circuit dedicated to grabbing stuff and putting it in our mouths, and it probably develops in the womb. Researchers and parents alike have long known that babies stick all manner of things in their mouths from very early on. Some fetuses even suck their thumbs. As putting something in the mouth seems advanced compared to the other, limited actions of newborns, Angela Sirigu of the Institute of Cognitive Sciences in Bron, France, and colleagues wondered whether the behaviour is encoded in the brain from birth.