A decade ago, Nick Turk-Browne discovered a paradox in the way babies learn and process information. While statistical learning was thought to be linked to the hippocampus, which forms episodic memories, infants were found to excel at acquiring language despite not forming such memories until age 4 or 5.
Turk-Browne sought to resolve this contradiction by conducting fMRI scans on awake infants. However, babies are notoriously difficult to work with due to their wiggling, crying, and sleepiness. To overcome these challenges, Turk-Browne’s team developed new methods to keep the babies awake and focused during the scanning process.
The breakthrough came in 2021 when the team reported that the hippocampus activates during statistical learning as early as three months of age. By one year old, it is also active during memory encoding, suggesting that the lack of infant memories may be due to a retrieval issue rather than a formation problem.
This finding has significant implications for our understanding of how the infant mind takes shape and how cognitive development occurs. While earlier studies relied on behavioral data such as “looking time,” scientists now have access to detailed brain activity information through fMRI scans.
The use of awake fMRI scans in infants is still a relatively new field, but it holds great promise for answering fundamental questions about brain development and function. By combining infant neuroimaging with behavioral data and adult cognitive neuroscience studies, researchers can gain a more comprehensive understanding of the developing brain and mind.
Source: https://www.thetransmitter.org/cognitive-neuroscience/what-infant-fmri-is-revealing-about-the-developing-mind