INNATE AND LEARNED PERCEPTUAL ABILITIES IN THE NEWBORN-INFANT

From research carried out over the last few years, it has become appar ent that the visual world of the newborn baby (0-7 days from birth) is highly organised. It is also clear that the newborn infant is an extr emely competent learner. These themes are illustrated with respect to two areas of research, face perception and intermodal learning. Eviden ce is presented suggesting that the human face is ''special'' in that newborns respond to them as faces, rather than merely collections of s timulus elements. Additional evidence is presented which demonstrates that newborns can form auditory-visual associations after only a short exposure to the stimulation. These lines of evidence suggest that inn ate capacities, or modules, facilitate and direct early learning in or der to allow newborn infants to understand their newly encountered wor ld.