Using pet scans to investigate glucose metabolism in newborn babies to see when brain areas reach the adult level of functioning
Quasi Experiment: no manipulation, babies already have their brains. Newborns between 0 and 1 month were given PET Scan. PET, or positron emission tomography, scans show how tissues and organs function.
Demonstrated that glucose metabolism in newborn babies was most prominent in the primary sensory and motor cortex, thalamus, and brainstem. Other regions were not active.
Newborns have a limited amount of active areas of the brain. The areas active are important for basic survival whereas non-essential functions have not been explored yet.