More East Asian/Down’s Syndrome Similarities

Infants. In all cases, emphasis added.



White babies started to cry more easily, and once they started, they were more difficult to console. Chinese babies adapted to almost any position in which they were placed; for example, when placed face down in their cribs, they tended to keep their faces buried in the sheets rather than immediately turning to one side, as the Caucasian babies did. They briefly pressed the baby’s nose with a cloth, forcing him to breath with his mouth. Most white (and black) babies fight this maneuver by immediately turning away or swiping at the cloth with their hands, and this is reported in Western pediatric textbooks as normal. While the average Chinese baby would simply lay on his back, breathing through the mouth, accepting the cloth without a fight.  


In addition, lower Negative Emotionality for infants with DS observed in this study supports the idea that lower levels of reactivity, related to decreased noradrenergic and adrenergic activity, may translate into fewer negative emotional responses for infants with DS…In this study children with DS were also described as demonstrating lower levels of Distress to Limitations (i.e., anger/frustration), which may in turn contribute to lowering the risk for behavior problems.



In an early study, Lind et al. (1970) found that babies with Down syndrome required more stimulation to provoke crying and had diminished visible responses to pain than control babies.

Thus, both East Asian and Down’s syndrome infants share important behavioral traits; traits that are inborn and physiological, centered on a greater passivity and lessened response to stimulus (including stimulation to cry).



And, guess, what other infants have problems with bilirubin and jaundice?

Surprise!  Down’s syndrome.

The evidence continues to mount that the evolutionary history of East Asians converged onto a phenotype functionally equivalent to a high-IQ Down’s syndrome “retardate” type.

East Asians = High-IQ Down’s Syndrome Phenotype

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Those Japanese Ice People

Tales of Fst: Sallis vs. Lewontin

Take a Bite Out of That Nothingburger!