ReviewActa paediatrica (Oslo, Norway : 1992)2025
Markers of consciousness in infants: Towards a 'cluster-based' approach.
Review in Acta paediatrica (Oslo, Norway : 1992), 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Markers of consciousness in infants: Towards a 'cluster-based' approach.Acta paediatrica (Oslo, Norway : 1992) · 2025Review
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
Abstract
As recently as the 1980s, it was not uncommon for paediatric surgeons to operate on infants without anaesthesia. Today, the same omission would be considered criminal malpractice, and there is an increased concern with the possibility of consciousness in the earliest stage of human infancy. This concern reflects a more general trend that has characterised science since the early 1990s of taking consciousness seriously. While this attitude shift has opened minds towards the possibility that our earliest experiences predate our first memories, convincing demonstrations of infant consciousness remain challenging given that infants cannot report on their experiences. Furthermore, while many behavioural and neural markers of consciousness that do not rely on language have been validated in adults, no one specific marker can be confidently translated to infancy. For this reason, we have proposed the 'cluster-based' approach, in which a consensus of evidence across many markers, all pointing towards the same developmental period, could be used to argue convincingly for the presence of consciousness.
conclusionWe review the most promising markers for early consciousness, arguing that consciousness is likely to be in place by 5 months of age if not earlier.
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