I think that yes, babies do find everyday items and events riveting in part because they do not understand the mechanics behind how they ‘work’. Continuing the squeaky toy example, I imagine an infant would be fascinated by this not just because they don’t understand how it works, but also because the squeak itself is a new experience, as is the act of squeezing a malleable item. Most importantly, from playing with such an item the child is discovering causality: cause (squeezing the toy) and effect (squeak) must be a fascinating concept for a child in this early stage of life.

Thanks for the comment and compliment… I try my best to find the most interesting stuff I can. I’ll definitely check out your site.

However, depending on the age of the infant, the total number of synapses (connections between neurons) and the synapse density can be twice that of an adult. This graph depicting the changing number of synapses/synapse density is worth a look, if only to see how rapid the changes are in an infant’s brain (carefully note the x-axis scale).

As for whether this means that infants have greater control over their sensory systems, I would say no, as their use at such an age would be instinctual and uncontrolled. However, as discussed in the article, the untempered ‘lantern mode’ of attention is arguably superior to ours for certain tasks.

Thanks for the comment and making me think!

love the site by the way, i love learning all these little facts!
check mine out on wordpress