Toddlers of 18, 22 and 26 Months Old Take into Account the Limits of their Body

Abstract

<p>Today, most researchers recognize the fact of the multicomponent nature of the phenomenon of self-awareness. Earlier, in studies of self-awareness, both in early ontogeny in humans and in animals, the emphasis was on the visual representation of oneself. Now the bodily components of self-awareness are also taken into account: the perception of one's own limits, weight and other characteristics. In 2007, an experimental technique was developed, during which children of different ages (18, 22 and 26 months) had to penetrate holes corresponding to the size of their bodies. The experimental setup used permeable and impermeable holes. The number of errors made it possible to judge how well the children correlate the limits of their own bodies with the size of the holes. This article proposes a modification of the previously developed technique (experimental setup and the experiment procedure itself) to improve the reliability of the data obtained. We believe that the technique we have developed makes it possible to exclude such a side factor as the position of the hole. Therefore, with its help, clearer results were obtained (in comparison with the old method): children at the age of 18 months do not yet correlate the size of their body with the size of the holes for penetration. Moreover, each of the 30 children made no more than one mistake in a trial. Children aged 26 months significantly more often made the first attempt to penetrate the permeable opening. This indicates that at the age of 26 months, a person develops an awareness of the boundaries of his body.</p>