What is going on in the brain/body when a newborn is considered blind? Do they do it like a cop can tell a drug user by pupil dialation? How far along do they need to be to even check for it?

Don_Dickle@lemmy.world · 11 days ago

What is going on in the brain/body when a newborn is considered blind? Do they do it like a cop can tell a drug user by pupil dialation? How far along do they need to be to even check for it?

Admetus · 11 days ago

A newborn brain is learning for the first time to move the eyeball, focus the lens, then keep the eyeball directed towards an object, and even then, needs to process the variation in information between two eyeballs. I’m not in this field but holy moly. Remember that newborn human brains are still in development after the womb, and it’s not a high priority of the brain to get eyesight adjusted immediately. It allows for more plasticity I assume for the brain to focus on other sensations first.

They insist newborns are not exposed to strong light or sunlight for this reason.