Perceiving one’s own body: Babies sense their heartbeat and breathing

A recent study from Wiener Kinderstudien Lab at the University of Vienna demonstrates for the first time that babies as young as 3 months can perceive their own heartbeat. In addition, the team, headed by researchers from the University of Vienna, together with colleagues from the University of Potsdam and Royal Holloway University of London, also investigated for the first-time infants’ perception of their own breathing and found developments during the first two years of life. The results are now published in the journal eLife.

The perception of internal body signals is closely linked to emotional awareness, mental health, and self-perception. Early in life the ability to perceive one’s own body signals may be particularly important, as it often forms the basis for interactions with caregivers — for example babies rely on their caregivers to respond appropriately to signs of hunger or discomfort. Moreover, the development of self-awareness and identity partly depends on the perception and experience of one’s own body.

The study shows that even 3-month-old babies can perceive their own heartbeat and that this ability remains relatively stable during the first two years of life. At the same time, the findings indicate that the perception of breathing improves significantly during the second year. Interestingly, the ability to perceive the heartbeat and breathing does not appear to be related — much like in adults.

Measuring body awareness in babies is challenging, as, unlike adults, you cannot simply rely on verbal report. Therefore, the research team used innovative methods by tracking the infants’ eye movements as they watched child-friendly figures. These figures moved either in synchrony with the child’s heartbeat or breathing, or with a slight time delay. Results showed that even at an early age, babies recognize the correspondence between their own heartbeat or breathing rhythm and the animated figures. They looked longer at the screen when the figures were in synchrony than when they were delayed. “The babies must have recognized that the figures moved simultaneously with their heartbeat or breathing, and then they paid more attention,” said the study’s lead author, Markus Tünte from the University of Vienna.

These findings open up exciting perspectives for future developmental psychology research. In particular, it is important to explore how early body awareness relates to the development of emotional and social skills, as well as the role parents play in shaping early body perception. In the long term, such research could be used to promote healthy body awareness and, consequently, the mental health of children.