Evening star., 1935-01-02
BABY 4bRA|NLESS'
FIRST TWOMONTHS|
Researcher Says Speech Is
Sign of Thorough
Functioning.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

PITTSBURGH, January 2.-The
human infant is "brainlesS' for ap-
proximately the first two months of
life, according to evidence presented
before the American Association for
Advancement of Science here by DR..
Mandel Sherman of the University OF
Chicago. former director of the Ma
tiCnal Child Research Center IN Wash
ington.
Not until it starts to talk, DIR. Sher-
man said. can the child be said to have
thoroughly functioning human brain.
The characteristic reactions of the
newborn child, DR.. Sherman found
in experiments with Chicago infants,
are almost identical with those of the
"pitted frog" of the biological labora-
tory. In these frogs the brain has
been almost completely cut away and
yet, within very narrow range. they
show certain fundamental ref1eXes,
notably those of righting themselves
and of automatic defense.
Control Unnecessary.
These are precisely the movements
of the new born, DR.. Sherman found,
and apparently are not controlled In
any way through the cerebral corteX,
CT upper level of the brain, where Is
located all the mind" of humans and
higher animals
He found, as an example, that with
In few days after birth the infant
will make hand movements to push
away some unpleasant stimulation.
such as fly lighting on its chin. 1t
will do this quite efficiently. The
pitted frog will act relatively the same.
But a few months later. when the
cerebral corteX hook-upS have started,
the child will make the same move
nlentS IN much clumsier fashion.
The cortex has begun to assume domi-
nance over the behavior of the indi-
Vldual. and the new arrangement is
messing things up for the time being.
A fundamental bit of animal be-
havior, DR.. Sherman said. is the So
called ''righting reflex" by which the
subject strives to keep itself in the
proper bodily orientation. It is found
operating strongly in the pitted frog
A part of this reflex pattern in the
section of the animal kingdom to
which man belongs is the ''graspins
reflex" shown strongly by the
monkeys. This is strongly developed
in the newborn infant, which can
support itself with its hands in thor
oughly monkey fashion. Within a
short time, however, this ability dis.
appears, the need for it having been
discarded in the evolutionary process
Reappearance Noted.
But DR.. Sherman has found it re-
appears just as strongly as ever in
men who have suffered injury to q
very narrow strip of the cerebral
cortex, known to neurologists as pre-
motor area six" This phenomenon
is interpreted as meaning that it is
entirely actuated. in both humans
and monkeys, in the lower brain cen
ters, but with the assumption of cor
tical control it is inhibited in the
Cne and left alone in the other.
Upon the basis of his experiments
with children, DR.. Sherman developed
the hypothesis that the development
of the human brain is primarily q
psychological and secondarily a.physi-
illogical matter. The gradual aSsump-
tion through the first year of life oi
control by the corteX over all the &C
tivities of the organism, he finds, pro-
ceeds with, rather than precedes, edu-
cation From this point of view the
experiments have considerable funda-
mental significance in theories of
education. =
Thus, he deduces. probably man
owes no small part of his intellectual
superiority in the animal kingdom to
what appears at first as diSadvan-
tage, his long weaving period. This
gives the cortex the opportunity to
take over gradually and effectively its
various functions, whereas with the
lower animals a good deal of the
basic reflex type of behavior must be
preserved because they must shift for
themselves almost from the first.
Education Delayed.
But, he said, until the cortical domi-
nance begins at about the second
month Of life, all education is mean
ingless and hence the initial environ
ment can have practically no effect on
the future reactions of the organism.
Previous work along this line has
been by neurologists. who have studied
the process of nerve fiber myeliniza-
tion-the appearance of sort of in
sulation sheath around a nerve fiber
without which. it has been believed, it
does not function. The myelinization
of the fibers from the cortex does not
take place until well after birth.
H., l.. -.
DR.. Sherman reverses the process in
showing that the behavior itself pre-
cedes the physiological processes of
brain functioning.
S0ITND yacapUrS ppoprn