Exploration of the newborn's manual activity: A window onto early cognitive processes

Neuronal group selection theory (NGST) proposals [Edelman, G. M. (1992). Biologie de la conscience. Paris: Odile Jacob] focusing on variability are used to aid the understanding of the close relation existing at birth between cognitive endowments and haptic manual functioning. We report a series of experiments providing evidence for a manual activity characterised at birth by its variability: the neonate cyclical manual activity alternating opening and closing of the hand is defined as a general exploratory movement pattern (GEMP) that newborns use as an exploratory tool. This GEMP is sufficiently variable to offer a huge diversity in the object properties explored. This diversity allows, in turn, a cognitive process of comparison allowing neonates to unify their multimodal perception.