Babies pick up on more than you would think

AT FIRST blush, babies seem mostly preoccupied with more mundane biological processes, like eating and pooping and spitting up all over your shirt.

This fooled a lot of researchers into believing that babies weren’t thinking about anything at all. Scientists coined the term “tabula rasa” - blank slate - to describe these “empty” creatures. They regarded infants as merely helpless helpings of cute, controllable, human potential.