DIFFERENTIAL ROOTING RESPONSE BY NEONATES - EVIDENCE FOR AN EARLY SENSE OF SELF

It is proposed that from birth, and long before mirror self-recognitio n, infants manifest a sense of self as a differentiated and situated e ntity in the environment. In support of this view, observations are re ported suggesting that neonates discriminate between external and self -stimulation. Five newborns and 11 4-week-old infants were observed wh en they spontaneously brought one hand to their face, touching one of their cheeks (self-stimulation), or when the index finger of the exper imenter touched one of the infant's cheeks (external stimulation). Mic roanalysis revealed that infants responded differentially to the two t ypes of stimulation. Newborns tended to display significantly more roo ting responses (i.e., head turn towards the stimulation with mouth ope n and tonguing) following external compared to self-stimulation. Four- week-old infants demonstrated an opposite pattern. These data are disc ussed as evidence of an innate ability to discriminate between self ve rsus externally caused stimulation. The differential expression of thi s ability at birth and at 4 weeks is considered in relation to learnin g opportunities and the emergence of new functional goals guiding infa nt behaviour. (C) 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.