August 31, 2000 - Thursday
We've coincidentally just received the test result from two of Harry's visits to local colleges and both were cases where Harry was in a group that essentially failed a test. Of course, failing a test is good in this case because it helps the researchers understand the limits of babies' cognitive abilities and is no reflection on Harry...well, other than that he's not overly advanced for his age. In both cases, Harry was tested for something that, as it turned out, was beyond his age group. In one case, Harry's first experiment at 3.5 months, he was too young to discern an unnatural coloration of two attached objects. In the second case, Harry at six months was unimpressed with the difference between one and two dots. More interestingly, a second study group of babies in the same test were more curious about difference between 16 and 32 dots, suggesting that babies - like adults in many cases - process small numbers differently than larger numbers. Perhaps, it's simply that small numbers take less concentration, but the test didn't get that deep. Another interesting and related study in which Harry did not participate, showed that babies slightly older than Harry is now understood language enough to expect to see either one or two objects appear after hearing a spoken word or words that had been previously associated with the objects. Equally noteworthy, random noises used in the same way - for example, a whistle for one object and a rattle for two - did not generate the same awareness. I will henceforth offer Harry more running commentary.

I was also struck this morning by Harry's (relative) long-term memory. We've been to a park near the lab with Harry several times now and he usually gets quite excited as we arrive, knowing that he's going to go on the swing. This morning I stopped at a much different and more humble park with a swing for just a few minutes before dropping Harry off at daycare. The only other time we'd been here was two days ago for a similarly short bonding moment before the drop-off. Nonetheless, Harry knew right away after we got out of the car what was going on and that he was going to swing. I guess I wasn't quite expecting him to anticipate so well, partly because I've noticed that his complaints aren't preemptive. Specifically, Harry's started to complain when he's placed in the car seat, but never until he's actually been placed in the seat. Even though there's no secret to what's about to happen, he's never complained on the way in. On the other hand, maybe this just goes to show that humans don't remember pain as well as pleasure.


Comments, opinions?