Washington: A new research has shown that infants can actually remember much more than we expect them to.
The study from Concordia University found that babies as young as 10-months old could tell the difference between the kinds of paths naturally taken by a walking animal, compared to a moving car or piece of furniture.
That's important information because the ability to categorize things as animate beings or inanimate objects is a fundamental cognitive ability that allows toddlers to better understand the world around them.
The study had looked at about 350 babies, who participated at 10, 12, 16 and 20 months, using a technique called the "visual habituation paradigm", which measures how long one looks at a given object, to find out when children clue in to the fact that animals and objects follow different motion paths.
The study revealed that even the youngest could absorb more details than some might think, through eyes that are usually open wider than adult ones.
The study is published in Infant Behavior and Development.
