Think about the first moment a baby is born. For many years, the medical and psychology worlds thought newborn babies were completely helpless, passive, and only dependent on external care. However, modern psychological research and clinical assessment methods demonstrate that from the very moment they are born, babies are remarkably prepared to interact with the world. They are well-equipped, active organisms. In this article, we explore the newborn’s journey of adaptation to life, their first physical assessments, their remarkable inborn reflexes, and early cognitive abilities such as recognizing the mother’s voice, for the readers of Psychology Times, with a focus on the newborn.
Saying Hello To Life: Newborn Assessment
When a mother asks her doctor, “Is my baby healthy?”, the first and quickest tool experts use is the Apgar Score (Apgar, 1953). The Apgar score is calculated by evaluating five core criteria: muscle activity, pulse, reflex irritability (such as grimacing), skin color, and respiration.
A score above 7 generally indicates that the baby’s physical condition is good. Scores between 4 and 6 suggest that the baby requires special care and monitoring, while a score below 3 signals a life-threatening condition requiring immediate intervention.
However, a newborn’s potential cannot be fully understood through vital signs alone. To assess behavioral capacity more comprehensively, the Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS), developed by Brazelton and Nugent (1995), is used.
Applicable from birth up to two months, this detailed scale consists of 28 behavioral and 18 reflex items. It evaluates autonomic functions such as breathing and temperature regulation, motor abilities including movement and activity level, the capacity to maintain sleep and wakefulness, and social responsiveness in interaction with others. This advanced assessment provides psychologists with valuable data for predicting developmental trajectories.
Inborn Survival Mechanisms: Newborn Reflexes
Babies are born equipped with various motor reflexes and sensory processes that help them adapt to the external world. Reflexes are unlearned, automatic responses to specific stimuli and carry vital importance in assessing the proper functioning of the nervous system.
For instance, when a baby’s cheek is gently touched, they immediately turn their head toward the stimulus and open their mouth. This is known as the “rooting” reflex. Together with the “sucking” reflex, it ensures feeding and survival. The rooting reflex typically disappears around the third week of life.
Another example is the Babinski reflex: when the sole of a baby’s foot is stroked, the big toe moves upward while the other toes fan outward. This is a sign of a healthy neurological system and usually disappears between 12 months and 2 years.
Newborns also display remarkable grip strength. The “plantar grasp” (toes curling inward when the sole is touched) and the “palmar grasp” (grasping tightly when a finger is placed in the palm) allow the baby to establish a physical connection with their environment.
The “eye blink” reflex protects the eyes from sudden bright light or loud sounds. Among the most fascinating are the stepping and swimming reflexes. When a baby is held upright with their feet touching a firm surface, they exhibit stepping movements. When placed face-down in water (which should never be attempted at home), they automatically perform paddling movements with their arms and legs.
Finally, when a baby is laid on their back and their head is gently tilted backward, they arch their back, extend their legs, and fling their arms outward before bringing them back in. This response is known as the Moro reflex, a key survival mechanism.
From A Passive Body To An Active Mind
All these physical and neurological reflexes represent only the visible side of a newborn’s biological capacity. Let us recall the well-known study by DeCasper and Fifer (1980).
Their research demonstrated that newborns, even at just three days old, could modify their pacifier-sucking patterns—initially a reflexive behavior—to actively choose their own mother’s voice over that of other women. They exerted additional effort to hear that familiar voice.
This finding highlights that newborns enter the world not merely as biological organisms but as relational beings. The mother’s voice plays a profound role in the newborn’s early cognitive and emotional world.
An Active Start To Life
Medical assessments such as the Apgar and NBAS, autonomic system evaluations, and numerous primitive reflexes all point to the same conclusion: newborns are never helpless or unprepared.
They are extraordinary beings who enter the world equipped with complex biological, motor, and perceptual systems, taking an active role in their own development from the very beginning. As developmental psychology continues to uncover the mysteries of these early weeks, our admiration for the adaptive capacity of the human infant will only continue to grow.
References
Apgar, V. (1953). A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant. Current Researches in Anesthesia & Analgesia, 32(4), 260–267.
Brazelton, T. B., & Nugent, J. K. (1995). Neonatal behavioral assessment scale (3rd ed.). Mac Keith Press.
DeCasper, A. J., & Fifer, W. P. (1980). Of human bonding: Newborns prefer their mothers’ voices. Science, 208(4448), 1174–1176.