Researchers from the University of Birmingham in the UK have discovered that babies, at barely four months old, may possess an inherent sense of self-awareness. The study marks a significant stride in understanding how we, as humans, develop an awareness of ourselves and our surroundings.

The research team at Birmingham BabyLab crafted a novel experiment. They showed infants a ball on a computer screen, moving it closer and farther. When the ball neared, a gentle vibration was felt on the infants’ hands. Remarkably, brain activity spiked in these moments, particularly in areas processing touch.

This indicates an early connection between vision and touch that enables babies to sense their surroundings, an ability known as peripersonal space awareness. What’s intriguing is that this ability could be innate rather than learned.

“Our findings indicate that even in the first few months of life, before babies have even learned to reach for objects, the multisensory brain is wired up to make links between what babies see and what they feel. This means they can sense the space around them and understand how their bodies interact with that space. This is sometimes referred to as peripersonal space,” lead researcher Giulia Orioli said in a press release.

As adults, we seamlessly integrate our senses to understand our position in space. This study proposes that such integrative abilities begin in the earliest months of life, laying the groundwork for more sophisticated spatial awareness as we grow.

Extending their research to older infants, the team observed that eight-month-old babies showed surprise when the touch on their hand was followed by the ball moving away from them.

“Seeing the older babies show surprise responses suggests that they had not expected the touch due to the visual direction the object was moving in. This indicates that as babies proceed through their first year of life, their brains construct a more sophisticated awareness of how their body exists in the space around them,” said Professor Andrew Bremner of the University of Birmingham.

The next step? Exploring these multisensory abilities in both younger and older subjects. Comparing infant brain activity with adults can shed light on developmental trajectories. For instance, the researchers are excited about extending this research to newborns, potentially uncovering the very origins of human consciousness.

“It is a challenge working with newborns, as they spend such a large portion of their time sleeping and eating, but we are starting to have some success working with this age group, and it is going to be fascinating to see if babies only a few days old have the foundations of a sense of their bodies in space. ” Orioli said.

The findings appeared in the journal Scientific Reports.