I watched the "BBC Horizon" clip on consciousness and the study of finding out when humans become aware of who we are as people. The test used to determine when humans become aware of ourselves included placing a dot on the cheek of a baby without them noticing it being placed there, and observing if they notice it in the mirror when they look at themselves. This test showed that babies become aware of themselves at the age of 18-24 months.
When the younger baby looked at himself in the mirror with the unfamiliar dot on his face, he took no action to touch it or remove it. Next, when the 22 month old child looked at herself in the mirror, her hand touched the dot on her cheek immediately as if she recognized her face and it wasn't supposed to be there.
This study became even more interesting when they discussed the original idea used to test for self awareness which was to perform this test on animals. In this article, Of Conscious Thought and Self Awareness , it discusses this test being done on primates because they are evolutionarily and physiologically close to humans and are extensively studied in consciousness experiments. Chimps, pigeons, dogs, and dolphins are among the animals that have passed the mirror test. It is interesting to find out the extent of the knowledge of animals, and seeing as though many of them have the ability to recognize their own face, many animals may have deeper brain capacity than we think...
Wow, it's unbelievable how early we become aware of who we are. Our conscious mind is so complex that it can reach and develop within us before we are even 2 years old! I'm fascinated by this, because it makes you wonder how much a baby knows but doesn't have the ability to speak out or perform what he/she is discovering. This in sense also correlates with animals; if they can pass the mirror test, what other aspects of their intelligence do they have that has not yet been explored?