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The infant’s sense of hearing is very keen at birth, and the ability to hear is evidenced as soon as the seventh month of prenatal development. Newborns prefer their mother’s voices over another female even if speaking the same material (DeCasper & Fifer, 1980).
Infant perception, process by which a human infant (age 0 to 12 months) gains awareness of and responds to external stimuli. At birth, infants possess functional sensory systems; vision is somewhat organized, and audition (hearing), olfaction (smell), and touch are fairly mature.
Newborns have difficulty distinguishing between colors, but within a few months are able to discrimination between colors as well as do adults. Infants can also sense depth as binocular vision develops at about 2 months of age. By 6 months, the infant can perceive depth perception in pictures as well (Sen, Yonas, and Knill, 2001).
- The senses of a newborn. Babies are born with all 5 senses—sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. Some of the senses are not fully developed. The newborn's senses are as described below.
- Sight. Over the first few months, babies may have uncoordinated eye movements. They may even appear cross-eyed. Babies are born with the ability to focus only at close range.
- Hearing. During pregnancy, many mothers find that the baby may kick or jump in response to loud noises and may quiet with soft, soothing music. Hearing is fully developed in newborns.
- Smell. Studies have found that newborns have a strong sense of smell. Newborns prefer the smell of their own mother, especially her breastmilk.
How do newborns perceive the world? Can they see in color? How blurry is their vision? Can they recognize you by scent? Learn more about the newborn senses.
Newborns have difficulty distinguishing between colors, but within a few months are able to discrimination between colors as well as adults. Infants can also sense depth as binocular vision develops at about 2 months of age. By 6 months, the infant can perceive depth perception in pictures as well (Sen, Yonas, & Knill, 2001).
Abstract. Infants learn to use auditory and visual information to organize the sensory world into identifiable objects with particular locations. Here we use a behavioural method to examine infants' use of harmonicity cues to auditory object perception in a multisensory context.
