A new study has found that babies can tell the difference between types of objects at just two months old. The research was published in Nature Neuroscience and carried out by scientists at Trinity College Dublin. The team studied brain activity in 130 babies while they were awake and looking at pictures of animals, trees, and everyday objects. Scientists wanted to learn how early the brain begins to recognize the world. Lead researcher Cliona O’Doherty said the results show infants understand their surroundings earlier than expected. The findings may help doctors better support child development in the future.

Researchers used brain scans called functional magnetic resonance imaging to record how infants reacted to different images. This method gave more reliable results than older studies that measured how long babies looked at objects. Brain patterns showed clear differences when babies viewed animals compared with nonliving objects. Many babies returned for another scan at nine months, and results showed stronger recognition skills. Experts said the study was challenging because babies needed to stay calm and awake during scanning. Scientists created a comfortable environment using bean bags and large images above the infants. Researchers hope future studies will connect early brain activity with later learning ability.