Feeling disgusted about something is a sensation that in evolutionary terms helps protect us from disease. The feeling is still young (a few hundred thousand years old) respect to other responses such as anger or fear that appeared already a few million years ago. Because so young its use is still imprecise. Children use the...
The Aleut were a population that lived on some islands in the North Pacific with very little vegetation and no trees while the Tlingit lived on islands with lots of forests. For this reason, the former built their boats pasting together wood fragments found on beaches, whereas the latter cut down whole trees and dug...
Of the many reasons why children should not spend too much time in front of TV, I’ll choose two. First, the time lapse between one TV image and the next is in milliseconds. Instead, when we look at things around us like a tree and then a dog the time lapse in passing from one...
A father recently told me that he and his wife no longer went to art exhibitions as they had two kids aged two and four years who would not understand anything of what they saw and might even try to touch the precious works of art. Would we ever say that we should not speak...
At eighteen months of age infants understand the intentions of adults even when these are only hinted and not followed-up on. However, they do not understand the intentions of an inanimate model that copies the same actions performed by a person. Show a group of 18-month old infants a plate of broccoli and another group...
Language allows info to rapidly pass from one person to another. This exchange of data allows millions of people to adapt rapidly and together to sudden environmental changes. Complex behaviors that are sometimes necessary for survival are learned simply by listening to other people speak. The transfer of info, and thus of ideas, is a...
The enormous attraction that almost all children and teenagers feel for the world outside home is necessary if they are to form bonds, enter society and face the world. It is a strategy dictated by nature and evolution. Children have their rules, traditions, language and games. Their aim is not that of becoming successful adults...
At two weeks of age newborns copy someone whom they see sticking out his tongue. Newborns map the action they have just seen someone do thanks to mirror neurons and then they try to reproduce the mapped action. The process is automatic and based on a copy/paste process. Perception and production do not have to...
Three or four-year old children who spend a lot of time together, as happens in a kindergarten, may ‘get infected’ by certain traits their friends have. Children whose play mates are outgoing or work hard tend to copy these traits in time. Instead, children whose friends are anxious or easily discouraged do not copy these...
A Japanese study reveals that children under one year of age are attracted by images of heroism where the weak are protected against aggressors. In most societies today as in the past, protecting the weak out of pure altruism and for no personal gain is seen as an heroic act. Understanding these actions means recognizing...
