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by MistahPotato on October 10th, 2006

MistahPotato

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When do babies/fetuses get a conscience? (is that how u spell it?)

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  • by lynnenorth on October 24th, 2006

    lynnenorth

    Do you perhaps mean "consciousness" --as in, awareness and self-awareness -- rather than "conscience", the ability to understand moral judgements?

    If you mean consciousness, then there is some debate over that, as well. Brain waves first become detectable at around 16 weeks development, so a fetus cannot possibly have consciousness before then.* However, it is unlikely that there could be a full consciousness for some weeks after that; it's generally only after week 20 or so that the fetus responds to sounds and has a startle reflex, and the brain waves which *can* be detected at this point are most like the brainwaves that are displayed during deep sleep or dream states.

    Even after a baby is born, the first few months are likely to be very fuzzy and unfocused. This represents a very rapid period of brain growth, with synaptic connections being formed every day. During this period of time, however, the senses (especially vision) are still maturing, and almost everything in a baby's brain is focused around immediate sensory input, and making it into something relatively stable and coherent. It is nothing at all like the consciousness displayed by adults or even older children -- however, it is a form of consciousness. At this point it just comes down to individuals arguing over definitions.

    ---------------
    Side note: Almost every pro-life website and resource on the planet carries the claim that brain activity is detectable in week 6, or at around 40 days. This is based on a single paper which was published in 1964, which claimed to have measured EEG activity in the fetus at day 40 (H. Hamlin, "Life or Death by EEG," JAMA, Oct. 12, 1964). What is not mentioned is that this paper was discredited very soon after by some medical students who, using the same equipment and setup, measured brainwaves in a bowl of Jell-o.

    It is, in fact, not possible for there to be brain waves at 6 weeks because there is not yet a "brain"; the embryo at week 6 is generally about an inch long and wouldn't even fill a teaspoon, and the cells which will become the brain have not yet differentiated to neurons and glia, there are no synapses or dentrites (thus no possibility of synaptic connections), and the fetus is producing no neurotransmitters at this stage. In reality, this claim has to be disregarded; there is no physical structure present which would allow brain waves to exist.

    Comments

    • Well-written and very interesting, Lynnenorth, as usual. The gall of people who take information out of context and present the part that promotes their specific agenda is amazing. I always learn something from your answers. Always. Thanks.

      Jodie44

      by Jodie44 on November 21st, 2006

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