From the very beginning of becoming conscious we become aware of the existence of other organisms, especially of other human beings. From birth, children have profound mutual interactions with their mother, consisting in sounds, gestures and face expressions that go back and fro continuously.
Consciousness, if taken as a synonym for awareness of our own body and its capacities for action, might be in place from as early as 24 to 26 weeks gestational age, which is when thalamocortical connectivity is first established1. But if consciousness is defined to require the capacity to represent mental states as such, it is unlikely to be in place before the age of 1 year2. A sense of self is reasonably well developed at 18-24 months3. Carruthers (2003) argues that consciousness does not emerge in humans until the age of 3 years on the grounds that this is when children first acquire the concepts that he takes to be required for consciousness, such as acknowledging that things may ‘appear’ or ‘seem’ to be real4.
The ability to ‘read’ the mind of the others is marked by the ability to detect deception which occurs at about 4 years of age. The area of the brain that is more active when volunteers make inferences about mental states is the most anterior part of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). The same area has been found to be active when people monitor their own mental states. This similarity suggests that attribution of mental states to self and to others depends on the same neuro-cognitive mechanism5.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anterior_cingulate_cortex
Thus, the development of selfhood involves an ongoing interaction with others. The thinking that that others have similar conscious experiences is known as Theory of Mind (TOM). One of the first indications of detecting intentions is the identifying the directions of another person’s gaze. The amygdala, a subcortical structure, appears to be involved in this process, as well as several cortical areas. Pointing at the same visual target is a next step in becoming aware of others in an active way6.
The areas of the brain involved in a primordial recognition of others with intentions are called mirror neuron systems, from the discovery about 25 years ago by neuroscientists from Parma under the leadership of Giacomo Rizzolatti. Mirror neurons become active not only when an animal performs a grasping action but also when it see another animal performing the same action. Such neurons are proposed to underlie the understanding of other’s intentions and gives a sense of closeness to other humans (empathy), which is the basis for social life7.
- I Kostović & N Jovanov-Milošević (2006): The development of cerebral connections during the first 20–45 weeks’ gestation. Seminars in Fetal and Neonatal Medicine 11, 415–422;
N Padilla & H Lagercrantz (2020): Making of the mind. Acta Paediatrica 109, 883–892. ↩︎ - C Frith (1995) Consciousness is for other people. Behavioral Brain Science 18, 682–683. ↩︎
- H Lagercrantz & JP Changeux (2009): The emergence of human consciousness: From fetal to neonatal life. Pediatric Research 65, 255–260. ↩︎
- P Carruthers (2003): . Cambridge University Press ↩︎
- U Frith & C Frith (2001): The biological basis of social interaction. Current Directions in Psychological Sciences 10, 151-155. ↩︎
- S Baron-Cohen (1995): Mindblindness: An essay on autism and theory of mind. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press;
C Frith & U Frith (2000): Interacting minds – a biological basis. Science, 286, 1692–1695;
BJ Scholl & AM Leslie (1999): Modularity, development and “theory of mind.” Mind and Language 14, 131–153. ↩︎ - HG Engen & T Singer (2013): Empathy circuits. Current Opinion in Neurobiology 23, 275-282;
V Gallese & A Goldman (1998): Mirror neurons and the simulation theory of mind-reading. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 2, 493–501;
L Bonini et L (2022): Mirror neurons 30 years later: implications and applications. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 26, 767-781. ↩︎