The subject of 'awareness' has many different and fascinating aspects to it. For example, a definition of awareness includes 'being conscious', 'knowing' and 'self-awareness', as well as 'watchful' and 'vigilant'.
As well as becoming self-aware, being aware or 'paying attention' is also associated with all forms of general learning. This is because, in order to learn, we do have to 'focus', and focus brings in a further dimension.
According to Professor Temple Grandin(1), humans are 'built to see what they are expecting to see'. In other words, as we go through life, we are conscious or aware of only what we pay attention to, and we often ignore the myriad of other things in our environment that could attract our interest.
This 'screening' process is actually of great benefit, as otherwise we would become overloaded with sensation and be unable to function. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it is the emotional quality of our experiences that frequently dictates where we place the spotlight of our attention. I suggest this is true not only for learning about the world, but also when learning about ourselves - when we slowly recognise that there is a separate, distinct and unique 'me' as well as a 'you'.
The capacity to 'be aware' is potentially innate in us in its most fundamental form when it refers to being 'conscious'. But, as can be seen, it is also an ability that has to be developed in many ways.
So how does this all work? Where does it start and what happens? In this article, we will be going on a journey to see if we can discover clues to what makes us self-aware and also pointers to what may contribute to our ability to pay attention and focus which helps us learn.
Becoming aware of 'ME'
It may seem strange to realise that the way in which we begin to learn about a 'me' is through someone else. As newborn infants, we are immediately attracted to faces or objects that are 'face-like'. Even though our visual system is immature and we can only see blurry images at fairly close quarters, these wonderful, moving, expressive faces (usually smiling) act like a magnet pulling in our interest to look longer.
Interestingly, nature has helped us get to get to know the faces of our primary carers - usually our mothers - really well, because in the first three months of life, the visual system has a period of 'sticky fixation'. This means that it is quite hard for us, as babies, to move our eyes to look at something at the 'edge' of our vision. Consequently, we spend a long time just looking. This means that there is lots of time for mutual gazing, with opportunities for being talked to and learning about mouth movements and linking them with sounds.
This last point also brings in the patterns of speech that adults use when talking to babies - 'motherese' (or Infant Directed Speech). The musicality of this kind of speech is also very attractive and 'pulls in' a baby's attention even more. Of course, during this time, babies are usually presented with a wide range of objects such as soft toys and mobiles, but the first focus for their profound attention is the face of their carer(s).
If we think back to the previous article on the brain, we will remember that experience helps those cells in the brain (neurons) 'talk' to each other. Gradually, the experiences that the baby has become 'wired up'. An example is how a baby can begin to be soothed or more energised (depending on the baby!) by the sounds of a bottle being prepared, or will greet the appearance of their parent with a huge smile.
Senses
Every day, a baby's body is explored both by the parents and the baby themselves as they gaze at their hands and suck their fingers and later on, their toes. A baby's knowledge and understanding - their awareness of themselves and their environment - is enabled in the first place by information from their senses.
The smell, taste, sound and look of their mother and father, any siblings and other carers (and any pets!), plus the taste and feel of their own bodies as they mouth and suck or are massaged, stroked, cuddled, wiped down, bathed and so on, all pull together to help the beginnings of recognition and familiarity.
The road to awareness is through the senses - which is why, of course, that learning through play is so important. In addition, as we have said, all this sensory information will be coloured by the emotional atmosphere in which these experiences take place.
Gradually all these experiences merge into coherent 'shapes', so that the baby has a growing awareness of the links between their sensory (including movement) information, emotional reactions and their personal and physical environment.
Concentration
It is important to emphasise how the baby feels in relation to what the baby will pay attention to - in other words, the baby's attention or awareness is initially attracted by a combination of the smiling, expressive face, and the interesting sounds it makes, which makes them feel good.
When the baby is helped to reach and grasp, given opportunities to explore and objects to examine, and praised for their achievements, all these help the growing ability to concentrate and focus, which also links with the growing maturity of the brain.
Anyone who has watched a baby from around the age of seven months with a 'treasure basket' will know just how much quiet concentration is displayed as the baby explores the interesting items that they have selected from the basket at their own pace. Such an activity also highlights how important it is to allow time for a baby to explore with loving adult supervision, but without too much intervention.
Self and others
Towards the end of the first year, the baby's ability to remember things 'out of sight', stranger anxiety and separation distress also point to the fact that the baby is now having a more complex understanding of their 'self' and awareness that there are others who are important.
This growing awareness of self and others is manifested further during the first half of the second year in the realisation that others have feelings that the growing child can now recognise. This could include, for example, knowing what being 'sad' is and what may be comforting, such as when a child gives another child their teddy bear to hold if they are distressed.
Gradually, they also begin to realise that others have likes and dislikes in other areas, such as food. This is where making mealtimes a social occasion for even the youngest children helps them learn more about what 'I like' and what 'you like', and understand that different people can like or dislike the same thing.
Around the middle of this second year, a further wonderful shift in understanding takes place - when children recognise themselves in a mirror. This implies that the child identifies itself as a self, but also a self with a body that the child now recognises as part of who they are.
Interestingly, it is also around this time that children love to point to parts of their body - and to yours! Perhaps less welcome is the emergence of feelings of shame and guilt or embarrassment. This is when the child realises that others see them as active 'agents' and that disapproval as well as praise can happen to them.
Thoughts and feelings
The beginning of self-awareness is now fully underway, leading eventually to the more abstract situation of being aware of individual thoughts and feelings and able to reflect on them. This is a really important concept, because the awareness of a recognisable face and body with a defined shape may be the first glimmer of understanding of the self as a 'whole', which may in turn be the beginning of the notion of a self that persists through time.
For example, at the age of 80 we look very different to how we appeared when we were eight months, eight years or 28 years old, and yet we have a mental idea of ourselves as the same person. This awareness of a permanent self remains in spite of changes in physical appearance, changes even in attitudes, motivation and lifestyle. The beginning of this awareness may lie, as so much of our understanding does, in the first realisation of a self having feelings, likes and dislikes, and a body which is ours.
Ultimately, what we have to recognise is that our most sophisticated functions - including being able to think about and understand our own motivations, goals and dreams - rest on the physical/sensory experiences we have had since birth, and that it was paying attention to and being aware of our carers that allowed us to begin the journey of exploration to ourselves.
The world around 'ME'
Our understanding of the world around us is gained in a similar way to how we begin to understand the uniqueness of our selves. This is also achieved through actual physical and sensory experience.
Think about how we learn the idea of a chair. We learn through the physical association we have with it as we sit in a chair in exactly the same way - that is, our bottom on the seat and our knees bent.
As we get more confident at sitting in a chair, we can, of course, change our position, such as sitting sideways. But essentially, the experience plus the label that we begin to associate with it allows us to build up the basic idea of what a chair is. However, what we learn about will depend on our individual circumstances, opportunities, culture and society. This leads us into thinking about another aspect of awareness, which is about 'paying attention' in order to learn.
PAYING ATTENTION
In babyhood, if we are attracted to something, we physically reach towards it. Incidentally, we do much the same thing as adults when we are attracted to someone - we 'reach' towards them by moving closer or engaging them in conversation so that they become 'close' emotionally to us. When we become aware of something that attracts our attention, we need to be 'captured' in order to pay attention, whether it is a beautiful flower, a wonderful story or the sight of a beloved person. Sadly, we also pay attention to what scares us.
This means that a child who has adverse experiences will be constantly emotionally aware of their surroundings, alert to potential signs of what the child may interpret as danger.
Perhaps you can see how every aspect of development links and folds into every other aspect as emotional security allows a child's attention to move away from themselves and explore both physically and mentally the world around them.
In other words, a child's ability to be aware of your plans and goals for them will depend on how emotionally secure they feel and their relationship with you. This can be especially so for boys, who tend to 'switch off' if they feel you do not like them or are uninterested in them.
The importance of emotions in awareness and learning is highlighted further if we revisit Professor Temple Grandin's quote at the beginning. We do not 'pay attention' to everything in our environment, as there is simply so much in it, so a great deal of it is not noticed consciously. Like a snowflake which may land on a person's shoulder and then disappear, so much of what our senses tell us is briefly registered and then vanishes without our noticing.
What could bring the snowflake to our attention is if it lands on our skin and we feel a sudden chill - we become alert to the sensory experience and then we focus; we look, we become aware. The sudden feeling of 'chill' will also bring with it an emotional 'tag', such as whether we liked the sensation or not.
Babies and young children will notice what kind of feelings and reactions are provoked by their exploration of themselves and the people and objects around them. They will enjoy exploring and learning about what feels satisfying in some way and what provides them with feelings of excitement and/or pleasure - and quickly learn what scares them, so that they learn to pay attention and be aware of things such as dark spaces, heights or loud noises.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, having awareness involves self-awareness as well as being interested in what is around us. Emotional well-being influences motivation, curiousity and willingness to explore and learn. The attitudes and influence of parents and other adults will help define what does attract and inspire a child - or dampen interest and enthusiasm, so that a child becomes less aware, less motivated and less curious.
Babies are born primed to take an interest in their world so that they can begin the journey of finding out about themselves and the world about them. It is up to us as their carers to ensure that we support each child on this fascinating journey of awareness.
FURTHER READING
Carter, R (2002) Consciousness. London, Weidenfield & Nicholson
Grandin, T, Johnson, C (2005) Animals in Translation. London, Bloomsbury Publishing
Greenspan, S I (2004) The First Idea. Cambridge, Massachusetts, DaCapo Press
FOOTNOTE
1. Professor Temple Grandin is a professor of animal management and a 'high-functioning' autistic person. Understanding awareness can help practitioners understand the difficulties of children and adults whose sensory systems may process information differently to most of us, for example, children with autism.
- Maria Robinson is an early years consultant and author of From Birth to One and Child Development from Birth to Eight: A Journey Through the Early Years (Open University Press).
Photographs at Nelly's Nursery, London, by Teri Pengilley.
