Babies are born with 'intuitive physics' knowledge

A new study has revealed that babies are born with "intuitive physics" knowledge, as they pay more attention to the objects and tricks that defy the basic laws of physics.

Researchers have discovered that infants less than a year old become more interested in objects that do seemingly impossible things, like pass through a solid wall or become suspended in mid-air with no visible means of support, the Independent reported.

The findings supported the contention that humans are born with some kind of core knowledge about how things should work which acts as a template on which babies begin to learn about the world around them.

The results shed fresh light on the old argument about whether nature, what people are born with was more or less important than nurture, what they learn in life. The scientists said the findings suggested that nature and nurture are not alternatives to one another, but interact closely.

Lisa Feigenson, a psychologist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, said that the observations supported the idea that when babies are surprised by something that goes against their core knowledge, they used it as a chance to learn more about the world.