Final answer:
Newborns tend to pay more attention to human faces above all else, which aids in social development and bonding. They also show a preference for their mother's voice and have a well-developed sense of hearing and smell from birth. These sensory abilities are central to a newborn's early interactions and development.
Step-by-step explanation:
Newborn Sensory Preferences
The DeCarlos' baby, like most newborns, is more likely to pay attention to human faces than anything else at this time. Despite being the least developed sense at birth, vision in babies is attuned to preferring faces over other stimuli. This preference aids in bonding and social development. Newborns are also more responsive to human voices, particularly their mother's voice, as opposed to other sounds. These innate preferences for human faces and voices contribute to the initial stages of language and communication development. Additionally, hearing is a well-developed sense in neonates, with newborns responding more readily to female voices and finding comfort in familiar sounds, such as their parent's voice, that they likely heard before birth.
Babies also possess a remarkable sense of smell from a very young age. Experiments have shown that newborns can distinguish their mother's scent, which plays a crucial role in the bond between mother and child and may influence feeding behavior. Considering these sensory preferences can greatly impact how caregivers interact with and support newborns in their crucial early development.