The babies looked longer at unexpected outcomes - for example if there were too many puppets - and their brain activity was similar to that seen in adults when confronted with errors.
It has been known for some time that babies tend to look for longer at unexpected things. However, this did not necessarily mean that they were actually surprised by what they saw.
In this particular study, 24 babies were shown two puppets which were then obscured by a screen. The babies saw a hand remove one of the puppets, and then the screen was removed, revealing either one puppet, as would be expected, or two, which would not.
In those situations, the researchers used an electroencephalogram (EEG) to measure brainwave patterns through electrical signals from their brains.
It was found that infants looked for over a second longer when the "incorrect" number of puppets were revealed.
Adults given a similar "correct or incorrect" mathematical presentation showed a faster version of the same response.
Dr Andrea Berger of Ben Gurion University of Negev, the team leader, wrote in PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)
"This study demonstrates that this error detection system may be present in the brains of infants and is activated when they are surprised by an incorrect arithmetic solution."
The researchers said that their work showed that babies could detect errors before the end of their first year of life, an ability linked to having the capacity to regulate their behaviour and emotion later on.
Dr Stella Acquarone, a London-based psychologist and member of the British Psychological Society, who specialises in early development, said:
"The babies are recognising where things are and where they should be."
"This could be used as a test to ensure this ability is present in babies of this age."
This study is published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
8 August 2006 |
