are babies' thoughts in the form of pictures?

gdavis

was just watching the little fecker waddling around the floor on his arse here and it struck me,how do they think,as they dont know any words....thats it really!

Seachmall

You can think without a language. Having a language can even limit your thinking and ability to understand complex topics.


(Well, having a limited language can, although all languages are limited in the grand scheme of things).

IM0

instinct and observation copycat behaviour and genes

admiralofthefleet

my little fella was toddling around naked earlier leaving little pools of piss all over the place whenever he got exited. i dont know what he does be thinking

LETHAL LADY

admiralofthefleet wrote: »

my little fella was toddling around naked earlier leaving little pools of piss all over the place whenever he got exited. i dont know what he does be thinking

Like father, like son.:p

admiralofthefleet

LETHAL LADY wrote: »

Like father, like son.:p

he only pee'd, where i......

Snowie

put down the joint man

lazygal

admiralofthefleet wrote: »

my little fella was toddling around naked earlier leaving little pools of piss all over the place whenever he got exited. i dont know what he does be thinking

He was probably wondering why you forgot to put a nappy on him.

opinion guy

LETHAL LADY wrote: »

Like father, like son.:p

Epic post

admiralofthefleet

lazygal wrote: »

He was probably wondering why you forgot to put a nappy on him.

didnt forget, he's teething hard and has a nappy rash from it so we leave his nappy off for a while to let the air at it

gdavis

yeah but how does he say "that lazy f#cker didnt bother his arse putting my poxy nappy on" in his head with no words??

Sparklygirl

I often wondered this myself, I came to the conclusion that they think in pictures and emotions.

Re the nappy rash, if it is really bad i.e. bleeding at all, put corn flour on it instead of cream as this is what the nurses did with out baby in hospital, they siad it is the best thing.

3ndahalfof6

I cant remember.

dodderangler

Probably think the same as myself with a few gargles on me
Wtf is that thing
Who the fcuk are you
Got milk!!!

Paddy Cow

I read somewhere that babies have dreams from about 7 months in the womb. Seriously, wtf can they be dreaming about? Dear Diary. Today I was bored so decided to play football with Mummy's bladder. It tired me out so now I will sleep for while before doing it again. The end.

anncoates

I approve of this OP.

Banjo String

Babies are great!

Expensive though. :mad:

Toddler (two and a half) and a four month old here.

You do be wondering what is goin through their minds at times.

orestes

What about blind people? Or deaf people? Or Helen Keller? It's possible to think without language, just depends on how you interpret your perceptions, even if it just just the association of sensations with stimulii. The picture theory of perception doesn't work though, it doesn't properly account for 3D.

ScumLord

It's hard to know with babies you have to remember that a surprising amount of human behaviour is learned. Your not born a civilised human being, you have to be made into one. A infant human may not have thoughts any more elaborate than the dog or a mouse out in a field. By that I don't' mean to insult your child (we're all the same animal) but without learning the traits we expect in humans your child is thinking about no more than any other living animal.

Most people fail to appreciate just how incredible a human child is. It took humanity thousands of years to end up here and a child can pick it all up in a matter of months. We are truly the most incredible species ever.

gdavis

ok,so,u know the way there does be all sorts of sh1te goin on in ur head constantly?[well in mine anyway].what age did that start? and what went through ur mind before that,when u were a baby.like,u cant just not think!!?ah here.the wine is gone to my head now ffs !!

Standard Toaster

I seen a documentary on this before, pretty sure all babies talk like Bruce Willis in their heads.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOB_MqcaZHw

Abi

gdavis wrote: »

was just watching the little fecker waddling around the floor on his arse here and it struck me,how do they think,as they dont know any words....thats it really!

If he's dragging his ass around hes trying to get mobile. Everything is visual to babies, and he can see everyone else walking around and that is his way of copying what is going on around him.


Take pictures

Banjo String

Excellent post scumlord

bgrizzley

ScumLord wrote: »

We are truly the most incredible species ever.

except for those lizards that drink through their feet...

keith16

bgrizzley wrote: »

except for those lizards that drink through their feet...

And when they bark, bees come out of their mouths.

bgrizzley

keith16 wrote: »

And when they bark, bees come out of their mouths.

link please, this i gotta see...:D



http://io9.com/370065/this-lizard-drinks-through-its-foot-and-soon-you-will-too

ScumLord

Abi wrote: »

Everything is visual to babies,

I wonder would it be though. As adults we're very visual but all babies have hyper senses by adult standards. If you think about hearing loss that's caused by physical damage to the ear follicles so a new born baby could be hearing things we can't hear any more. It's hard to know how much of an effect that can have on a person. Although I'm sure this research has been done and your more than likely right. But infant humans could very likely be extremely different from adult humans due to human brains being so malleable.

bgrizzley wrote: »

except for those lizards that drink through their feet...

I don't know about you but they'd be a different species from me. :pac:

lounakin

God knows what goes through their head. My little grub will look at what I give her suspiciously but whatever's on the floor is going straight down the gob. Food or not. I saw her licking the soles of daddy's shoes a few times. There's something about that earthy blend of ****pissvomit that she likes. Go figure.

Boombastic

They're crafty little feckers, they know more than they let on

admiralofthefleet

admiralofthefleet wrote: »

my little fella was toddling around naked earlier leaving little pools of piss all over the place whenever he got exited. i dont know what he does be thinking

He'd be thinking that life is great and fun and a never ending round of discovery. He hasn't a care in the world .

It must be great to be a toddler, it's a shame we can't really appreciate it until its way too late.

orestes

Candie wrote: »

It must be great to be a toddler, it's a shame we can't really appreciate it until its way too late.

Not for everybody.

Standard Toaster

Abi wrote: »

Take pictures

+1

While you can.

phasers

how do you think? I don't think in words or pictures, the thoughts are just sort of... I dunno, thoughts...

Standard Toaster

Babies are feckin arseholes.

Earthhorse

Yes, they think in pictures, but there are words in really big font below them to help them learn.

phasers wrote: »

how do you think? I don't think in words or pictures, the thoughts are just sort of... I dunno, thoughts...

You don't think in words? How do you know what you're thinking then?

Seachmall

Earthhorse wrote: »

You don't think in words? How do you know what you're thinking then?

When you're driving down the road and see a car coming in your direction you don't think "there's a car coming in my direction", you just know what it is and where it's heading.

Likewise when you're watching T.V. and someone makes a joke or something funny happens you don't think "that's funny because...", you just know why it's funny.

We spend a lot of our time explaining things to ourselves and others and so we verbalise them in our heads which leads us to believe our thoughts require language. However, that's just a layer of abstraction over our thought process. Not our thought process itself.

Earthhorse

What you've described there are reactions, not thoughts, which are different.

Minoxidil

I don't think in words, that's far to slow. Without words you can think much faster.

krudler

I'd love to hear other peoples internal monologues, like when youre thinking to yourself is it your own voice? or how you think your own voice sounds? what about animals? when a dog is sitting there deciding what to do is it just barks going through its head?

sock puppet

Seachmall wrote: »

You can think without a language. Having a language can even limit your thinking and ability to understand complex topics.


(Well, having a limited language can, although all languages are limited in the grand scheme of things).

There was a good documentary on the BBC I think last year about how language determined what colours people see. They went to some African tribe who could distinguish between colours that we couldn't and couldn't distinguish between colours that were completely different to our eye. Very interesting.

flanders1979

I presume they could dream about an enjoyable poo, getting a bottle or a favourite song.
My five month old goes bananas for some of the songs on the Disney Junior channel, maybe she dreams about them.

Seachmall

Earthhorse wrote: »

What you've described there are reactions, not thoughts, which are different.

Reactions in those examples would be turning or laughing.

Earthhorse

Seachmall wrote: »

Reactions in those examples would be turning or laughing.

Thoughts are what happen when we reflect upon things. When we swerve to avoid the car and afterward think "I could have been killed" - that's a thought. They are concious.

What's going on in your brain when the car heads toward you and instructs you to move your arm is unconscious. I wouldn't classify that as a thought. Not all activity that takes place in the brain is thinking.

kiffer

Seachmall wrote: »

When you're driving down the road and see a car coming in your direction you don't think "there's a car coming in my direction", you just know what around and where it's heading.

Likewise when you're watching T.V. and someone makes a joke or something funny happens you don't think "that's funny because...", you just know why it's funny.

We spend a lot of our time explaining things to ourselves and others and so we verbalise them in our heads which leads us to believe our thoughts require language. However, that's just a layer of abstraction over our thought process. Not our thought process itself.

Or when you are driving and it's time to change gears... you don't think "I am in third gear and about to go around a corner I had better drop to second, also turn the wheel and look around a bit. " you just work it out in the back of you mind and do it.

I was playing pool the other day and while taking a tricky shot I was "Thinking if I pull This off it's really going to piss him off" but what This was was never thought of in words... it's just a plan... "this ball is going to hit that ball over there and those two are going to go there and there, knocking this ball away from that pocket while putting mine in other and the white ball over there, roughly"... but you don't think those words. The words come after the plan not before.

Seachmall

Earthhorse wrote: »

Thoughts are what happen when we reflect upon things. When we swerve to avoid the car and afterward think "I could have been killed" - that's a thought. They are concious.

What's going on in your brain when the car heads toward you and instructs you to move your arm is unconscious. I wouldn't classify that as a thought. Not all activity that takes place in the brain is thinking.

Acknowledging the the car is coming in your direction is not necessarily unconscious. You don't have to put something into words in order to have a conscious thought. People without language, like those born deaf, are fully capable of thought.

kiffer wrote: »

The words come after the plan not before.

Exactly, you can't put something that doesn't exist into words. You must have the thought before you can put it into English (or whatever language).

gdavis

jaysus lads,a simple yes or no would have sufficed,i have a headache now trying to understand some of the replies

kiffer

gdavis wrote: »

jaysus lads,a simple yes or no would have sufficed,i have a headache now trying to understand some of the replies

Yeah? An actual head ache or are you just thinking the word ouch over and over?

Chorcai

The mirror stage is a concept in the psychoanalytic theory of Jacques Lacan. The mirror stage is based on the belief that infants recognize themselves in a mirror (literal) or other symbolic contraption which induces apperception (the turning of oneself into an object that can be viewed by the child from outside of himself) from the age of about six months. Later research showed that, although children are fascinated with images of themselves and others in mirrors from about that age, they do not begin to recognize that the images in the mirror are reflections of their own bodies until the age of about 15 to 18 months. Of course, the experience is particular to each person.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirror_stage

I like this kind of thinking

gdavis

jesus wept