Hacker News Reader

I wonder if babies work this way? i.e.The brain doesn't know which connection is which until the it performs thousands/millions of movement tests to see what moves what? Then over time it solidifies the muscle memory?

View on HN

A lot of stuff is preprogrammed or developed before birth. Most of the senses work and the motor system atleast knows what nerves do what (though coordination is 0).

Other animals come out far more developed when born and have a functional motoric system and brain, our species doesn't do that mainly because it would be difficult to have the baby fit through.

I wonder if they learn some of it still in the womb. After all, most mothers say they can feel "kicking" sometimes. That might actually be the fetus learning how to extend its limbs

As someone who has been pregnant and had a baby, it's much more than feeling kicking "sometimes." It's all sorts of movements, and you can even tell which part of the body is where (depending on the position of the baby). They'll even do somersaults in there before they get too big.

The movement is frequent enough that a measure of health for the baby starting about 3/4 of the way through the pregnancy is to have the mother count movements until she reaches 10, which should take between 30 minutes and 2 hours.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com