How does your baby’s world change during a mental leap?

Changes during a mental leap

With each mental leap that your baby makes, it gains a new kind of perception. It is through this new potential or ability that he is able to perceive new things—that is see, hear, taste, smell and feel new things. All the new things he is perceiving now were already present in the environment before the leap. He just did not notice them because his brain did not make them out at the time. After making the mental leap, he suddenly notices the new things in front him. It is difficult for us adults to imagine this, but your baby’s whole world has now changed.

Consequences of a “New World”

The new kind of perception your baby gains when he makes a mental leap gives him the ability to develop many new skills that require this level of perception, though it may be some time before he develops a particular skill of the many that are possible. Think of it as a store with different departments where products are sorted by properties they have in common—in this case that they require a particular level of perception. When a mental leap occurs, your baby can enter a particular department for the first time. Once there he needs to choose a product, a skill, to practice. He can not suddenly buy everything offered in the whole department. What he chooses, and how he chooses it, makes your baby unique.