Instead, spatial reasoning appears to be based on environmental inputs and old-fashioned cognitive development.

Why this should come as such a surprise to some researchers is uncertain. Core knowledge theorists claim that infants almost immediately express certain types of knowledge. But this suggestion assumes two things: one, that it is possible to measure infant cognition at the moment of birth; and two, that infants are incapable of learning before they are born. On the matter of the former point, it seems apparent that logistical and ethical concerns would make it exceedingly difficult, if not outright impossible, to test infant cognition immediately after birth. With regards to the second issue, we already have evidence that infants are capable of basic learning while still in the womb. Though developmentally unfinished, the basic sensory organs that the fetus develops permit it to learn information about its environment. Lecuyer (2006) reminds us that it...
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