How are certain behaviors genetic in nature? my sister’s baby daughter bangs her head back and forth in the exact way my sister did when she was a baby. It can’t be a learned trait, but it’s a running joke in the family that she’s clearly her daughter. Is this genetic?
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Hardwired behaviors are very common.
Things like looking towards light, chewing when something is in the mouth, desires to migrate, preferences for nesting materials…
One explanation is that the way various neural structures are formed can trigger a positive response when a stimulus is found. Things like “sugar=good”. So when sugar is found you repeat whatever you attempted.
In this case it might be finding a specific motion pleasurable.
Another possibility is actually a “fault” in the neraul pathway since everyone has variations.
This might be in motor control. The child might be trying to keep the head steady. But either corrects for a tilt to late, v or overcorrects, leading to a head bobbing.
It may not even be neural, and could be a musculature issue where a muscle is understood at this point and can’t properly follow the directions given by the nervous system.
Or a box of all of these.
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