10 Surprising Ways Babies Are More Intelligent Than You Think

What’s really fascinating about babies? They’re charming, they cry, and on occasion, they even sound like Bruce Willis. But beyond their cuteness, they’re also incredibly intelligent. It’s true that every parent believes their baby is a little genius, but in reality, infants are surprisingly bright. They can sense emotions, make logical decisions, and even comprehend abstract ideas. In many ways, they’re not so different from adults—aside from being much smaller.

10. Babies Can Comprehend Other People’s Thoughts

Before diving in, it’s essential to understand how researchers “interview” babies. As you may have noticed, infants aren’t exactly equipped for conversation, so scientists rely on alternative methods to interpret their behavior. When conducting experiments, researchers carefully observe how long babies focus on an object. If something surprises or puzzles a baby, they will gaze at it for a prolonged period. Keep this in mind as we go through the list.

It has long been believed that babies are unaware that others have different thoughts and feelings than their own. However, with groundbreaking developments in the study of infants happening daily, researchers are now gaining a new understanding of babies' capacity to grasp the thoughts of others.

Agnes Kovacs from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Budapest conducted an experiment with 56 seven-month-old babies. The babies watched a cartoon in which a character resembling a Smurf observed a ball rolling on a table. Occasionally, the ball would stop behind a rectangle. After the character left, the ball would sneakily roll off-screen. The babies realized the ball was gone, but the character didn’t.

When Papa Smurf returned and discovered the ball was missing (thanks to a dramatic removal of the rectangle), the babies showed surprise. They stared at the screen, even though they knew the ball had rolled away. Researchers speculate their astonishment was due to them empathizing with the character onscreen, reacting to his emotions. They understood how he felt.

Kovacs is not some rogue psychologist trying to challenge the established norms. A similar study in 2011 by Yuyan Luo, an associate professor at the University of Missouri, produced similar findings, as did research in 2005 and 2007. Perhaps we've been too quick to underestimate babies. Maybe they really do understand our thoughts... which means these little monsters are fully aware when they start crying in the middle of the night. Little troublemakers.

9. Babies Can Distinguish Real Speech from Nonsense

Unless you're Matt Smith, it's unlikely you can speak 'baby.' And since most infants aren’t voiced by Seth McFarlane, they resort to babbling nonsense while everyone else melts at their cuteness. Even though babies can't yet speak their minds, they can certainly tell the difference between real speech and gibberish.

Athena Vouloumanos from New York University played a series of recordings for a group of nine-month-old babies. The recordings included a variety of sounds, divided into four distinct sections. First, the babies heard a female voice saying words like “truck” and “dinner.” Next, they heard a parrot imitating human speech. Then, they listened to human non-speech sounds (like throat clearing and whistling), followed by more parrot noises. As this eclectic mix played, the babies were shown images of checkerboards, human faces, and a cup (in other words, a modern art exhibit).

By observing how long the babies gazed at the images, researchers could tell if the infants understood what they were hearing. For instance, when the babies heard real words spoken by a human, they fixated on the pictures for a long time. They had no trouble recognizing the sound of a genuine person. On the other hand, when the babies heard coughs or other non-verbal sounds, they paid no attention to the images. They were able to easily differentiate between actual language and meaningless noise.

Things got more complicated when the parrot started speaking. If the babies heard the bird say words like 'two' or 'bread' while looking at pictures of a face or a cup, they recognized it as speech, even though it wasn’t human. But when the more human-like images were replaced with the abstract checkerboard, the babies couldn’t tell the difference between the parrot mimicking speech and the parrot’s whistles. So, if you want to play mind tricks on your baby, get yourself a bird.

8. Babies Understand Animals Need Organs

Animals have organs. Anyone driving through the American South can confirm that. But when do humans first realize that all creatures, big and small, are full of intestines? Is it a discovery we make on our own, or is it something we just inherently know? Researchers at the University of Illinois suggest that it’s something wired into our brains. Just ask a baby.

Professor Renee Baillargeon and graduate student Peipei Setoh believe that babies understand fundamental physical and psychological concepts. For example, if a baby sees something moving and reacting to its surroundings, they assume the object is alive. Curious whether babies also grasp basic biology, they gave toys to a group of eight-month-olds and then broke the toys in half. If the toy appeared to be self-moving and agentive (making sounds), the babies were baffled. They would stare at the hollow insides for a long time, confused as to how moving, noisy objects could lack organs.

In a follow-up test, babies were given items covered in fur. By the age of eight months, most infants are believed to associate 'fur' with 'animal,' so the researchers wrapped cans in beaver pelts and rolled them past the babies. But when the cans were revealed to be empty, the babies stared in confusion. Where was the squishy stuff? On the other hand, they weren’t surprised to find that the stationary cans were hollow.

Beyond being a cute experiment, Baillargeon and Setoh’s study provides an intriguing insight into human evolution. It’s likely that humans developed an instinctive understanding of animal organs for survival. In hunter-gatherer days, knowing the difference between living creatures and inanimate objects was essential. For example, knowing a deer has a heart means you can hunt it for food. If you strike a wolf in the brain, you can save yourself from becoming its meal. In today’s world, though, the experiment might just be handy for a bored parent looking to entertain—or torment—their kids.

7. Babies Can Detect When Their Parents Are Angry

Being married with children can sometimes lead to a bit of tension. However, the next time you’re preparing for a heated 'discussion' with your spouse, consider stepping outside. Babies—even those fast asleep—can sense when their parents are angry, and this emotional tension can potentially harm their psychological development.

In 2013, researchers from the University of Oregon asked a group of mothers how often they argued with their partners. After the survey, the mothers put their babies to sleep and placed the little ones in an fMRI scanner. While the babies napped with headphones on, the machine hummed and clanged. As they slept, scientists played recordings of a male voice speaking gibberish. Sometimes the voice sounded happy, other times neutral, and occasionally irritated. Throughout the experiment, scientists monitored the babies' brain activity by tracking blood flow.

Once the study concluded, researchers found that babies from 'vocal' households reacted differently to the angry voice compared to infants from calmer homes. Babies whose parents argued frequently had a much stronger response to the irate voice, particularly in regions of the brain connected to stress and emotion regulation. Even though the infants were asleep, they could detect the hostility, and their brains reacted accordingly.

Though the exact cause is still unclear, psychologists are concerned that children exposed to frequent arguments between their parents might grow up more anxious and stressed compared to other children. So remember, parents, the next time you raise your voices, the baby is listening.

6. Babies Can Start Learning Songs Before Birth

You’ve likely seen moms who place headphones on their bellies to play Mozart for their unborn babies. While this musical experiment might not turn their little ones into prodigies like Amadeus, there is some evidence suggesting that music during pregnancy can be beneficial for prenatal development. Researchers from the University of Helsinki found that music can support areas like speech development. Even more intriguing, they discovered that babies have an innate sense for music and can remember songs they heard while still in the womb.

In 2013, the Helsinki team had 12 mothers play 'Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star' to their babies five times a week, while a control group of 12 expectant mothers skipped the music sessions. After the babies were born, the moms returned for testing, and scientists used an EEG to measure brain activity while the infants listened to the lullaby. The results showed that the babies who had heard the melody in utero still recognized the song after birth, with some babies recognizing it for up to four months.

This study highlights just how remarkable the human brain is. It also serves as a reminder to be mindful of the music you play for your kids, or you may find them stuck with that same song in their heads for months to come.

5. Babies Can Express Sympathy

Setting aside psychopaths, sympathy is one of the most fundamental human emotions. Defined as 'feeling concern for others,' sympathy allows us to connect with those in pain. It’s the driving force behind every (genuine) charity on Earth. And according to research from Kyoto University, it’s something we begin experiencing at a very young age.

In 2013, a team led by Shoji Itakura divided 40 babies into two groups and then played some rather unusual films. The first group saw a film where a sinister blue ball chased a yellow cube around the room. Despite the cube’s best efforts to escape, the ball repeatedly struck it and eventually crashed it into a wall. In the second group, babies watched a similar show, but this time, the shapes didn’t interact with each other.

Afterward, the babies were presented with two toys: a blue ball and a yellow cube. Babies from the second group, who saw the non-violent program, showed no preference for either toy. However, in the first group, where the bullying occurred, 9 out of 10 babies chose the bullied cube. But were they showing sympathy for the cube, or were they simply disapproving of the villain?

To find out, researchers conducted another experiment. This time, 24 additional babies watched a show where a bully shape attacked a weaker shape. However, there was a new character, a red cylinder, who just stood by. Afterward, the babies were given two sets of toys. The first group was offered the villain shape and the neutral red cylinder, while the second group was offered the victim and the red bystander. In the first group, babies overwhelmingly chose the red cylinder, while in the second group, almost all the babies picked the victim. Essentially, even without the bad guy present, the babies still preferred the bullied toy. This suggested that the babies were showing sympathy for the victim. As for the few who chose the villain, well, they might end up in a future Mytour article on serial killers.

4. Babies Are Capable of Reasoning

While babies may not be jotting down essays on the differences between Plato and Aristotle, they’re far from incapable of reason. Josh Tenenbaum from MIT suggests that babies are actually quite skilled at making logical assumptions about how the world works. In fact, one-year-olds can even show surprise when things don't align with their expectations.

In one of his experiments, Tenenbaum showed a group of one-year-olds a video featuring a container filled with brightly colored balls—three blue and one red—bouncing around happily. Suddenly, the scientist covered the screen, and while the babies’ view was blocked, one object was removed from the container. When the scientist uncovered the screen, voilà—an object had disappeared.

What’s particularly interesting is that the babies reacted differently based on which object disappeared and how long the screen was covered. If the screen was covered for just 0.4 seconds and the ball farthest from the opening disappeared, the babies were confused. How could the ball at the back fall out first? However, when the screen was covered for two seconds, the babies weren’t surprised at all if the same ball disappeared, as they understood there was plenty of time for it to roll out. The only exception was the red ball, as it was distinct from the others and thus more noticeable.

It seems that even babies as young as one year old have a solid understanding of logic. Before long, they might be reading “Discourse on the Method,” but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

3. Babies Can Differentiate Between Angry And Friendly Dogs

For as long as anyone can remember, there’s been an ongoing saga between babies and dogs. Babies tug on tails and ears, and dogs respond with their teeth bared. However, it seems that babies might just have the advantage in this rivalry. Not only do they have parents for backup, but they are also quite skilled at reading a dog’s emotions—an essential skill for avoiding preemptive dog attacks.

A study led by Ross Florn at Brigham Young University involved 128 infants, aged 6 to 24 months, who had little to no prior exposure to dogs. The babies were shown two very different photos: one of a friendly dog with a wagging tail and an open mouth, and another of an angry dog with its teeth showing. Initially, the babies showed no preference for either image, but when researchers played sound effects of a happy bark and an angry growl, the babies reacted appropriately, staring at the image of the dog that matched the sound they heard.

What’s fascinating is how babies’ responses vary with age. For instance, when scientists played an angry sound, six-month-olds gazed at the angry dog for a long time. In contrast, 24-month-olds only glanced at the corresponding picture for a brief moment before moving on to something more captivating. For the older babies, it seemed like the answer was so obvious that they didn’t feel the need to focus on it for long. Let’s hope they’ll give more attention if they come across an actual dog.

2. Babies Are Self-Aware

Humans, unless affected by certain disorders, are generally aware of their own body’s position in space. We understand where we are in relation to other objects and how we interact with them. But what about babies? Do they possess self-awareness? Are they able to distinguish themselves from others around them?

Seeking answers, Maria Laura Filippetti from the University of London worked with 40 newborns, ranging from 12 hours to four days old. The experiment involved a TV screen, a paintbrush, and a twist on a well-known illusion. The rubber hand illusion consists of stroking a person’s hand while keeping it hidden from their view, while simultaneously stroking a visible rubber hand. This makes the subject believe the rubber hand is their own. While the trick is a fun party gimmick (if you happen to have a spare prosthetic hand), Filippetti adapted it for her very young participants.

Filippetti showed babies a short video in which an infant's face was gently brushed with a paintbrush. As the babies observed this action on screen, Filippetti simultaneously brushed their own faces. Sometimes the strokes coincided with the onscreen action, while at other times, there was a slight delay. After completing the experiment, Filippetti found that the babies were tricked when the strokes matched the onscreen actions.

However, when the strokes were delayed or when the video was upside down, the babies were able to distinguish between themselves and the babies on screen. The study was successful, but let’s hope these babies don’t develop an undue fear of paintbrushes.

1. Babies Understand Numbers

There are two types of people in the world: those who enjoy math and those who dislike it (this writer is in the latter group). Despite personal preferences, math is an essential part of life, and our understanding of numbers differentiates us from all other species. While animals can count (monkeys can even add dots), only humans use symbols to represent numbers (like 'two' or '2'). This raises an intriguing question: Is this a skill we acquire through teaching, or is it something we’re born with?

In 2009, Veronique Izard from Harvard set out to answer this intriguing question by conducting an experiment with 16 newborns, who were just 7 to 100 hours old. The test began with Izard playing recordings of spoken syllables. For instance, the babies might hear the sound 'raaaa' five times, followed by 'ra' repeated ten times. Afterward, the babies listened to the recordings while viewing images of geometric shapes. The cards shown could feature five circles or ten triangles. Surprisingly, most of the babies looked longer at the cards that matched the number of syllables they had heard in the recordings. If they heard four 'ras,' they would gaze at the picture containing four objects, and so on.

Izard’s study reveals that infants possess an inherent understanding of numbers. They can count even before they gain the ability to speak. However, not all babies are equally adept at recognizing numbers. Some infants are better at this task than others, and those who are particularly good at distinguishing numbers are likely to grow up with stronger math skills. Unfortunately, your author was not one of those exceptionally numerically gifted babies.