VOLUME LXXIII | JAN 2023

Unlocking Infant Minds: Movement as a Window into Cognition

Dr. David Lowemann
Dr. David Lowemann, M.Sc, Ph.D., is a co-founder of the Institute for the Future of Human Potential, where he leads the charge in pioneering

Just as our eyes reveal our thoughts, so too do our movements. Researchers rely on the behaviors of infants – such as eye and head movements, reaching, and locomotion – to gain insight into their cognition. By studying these movements in conjunction with the assumption that cognitive processes take place in the cerebral cortex, it becomes clear that motor activity is integral to the development of cognitive abilities in infants. The motor cortex, responsible for controlling movement, plays a vital role in shaping cognition (Figure 1A). Understanding this intricate relationship allows us to unlock the secrets of infant minds and explore their knowledge, emotions, morals, and goals. To delve deeper into this fascinating research and learn how motor development influences our understanding of infant cognition, check out the full article!

It is said that our eyes reveal our thoughts, but the same can be said of any movement. Accordingly, researchers routinely use infant eye and head movements, facial expressions, reaching behaviors, and locomotion to infer what is happening in the infant’s mind – knowledge, emotions, morals, and goals (e.g., [1–4]). When researchers couple inferences about infant cognition with the assumption that the cognitive processes are instantiated in the cerebral cortex, they must also conclude that the infant cortex is the source of motor outflow that crystallizes cognition in movement (Figure 1A).

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