The Theory of Nothing

What is instinct?

What is instinct?

Thanks to musicismybae11 for this subject. Check out her 'Music Lovers Handbook' and her new story 'Stranded.'

Her question is: how do babies know how to blink and swallow even though they're not taught to do these things.
Actually, you could ask this question in a more general fashion: how do animals, and even insects, know how to do things naturally. Yes, it's true that the mother, and sometimes the father, teach a newborn how to do things, but much of what a baby does is innate. In other words, it's built into their brains, and it's called instinct.
Instinct is defined as the innate inclination of a living organism towards a particular complex behavior -- Wiki definition; or an inborn pattern of activity or tendency to action common to a given biological species - Dictionary. Com definition. What this means is that an animal can do things naturally without prior training. Now, it's true that the more complex the organism is--think humans--the less that instinct plays a role, but it's still there. In fact, a human baby has the instincts of all of the species that it evolved from, but it's unable to tap into most of them.
For example, young birds can fly as soon as their wings are strong enough even if they are prevented from learning to fly with their peers. Flying just comes naturally.
A good example of an evolutionary instinct is the ease that a baby adapts to sucking on its mother's breast. This instinct has its roots all the way back to the earliest mammal species, which are believed to be rat-like moles.
Among things that are considered the result of instinct include: blinking; contraction of the eye pupil in bright light; taking the first breath after birth; falling asleep; crying, chewing and many other actions that we take for granted. Obviously, there is disagreement about how instincts evolved, but there is no doubt that they did. We are the product of eons of evolution, including learned actions that we call instincts.
But, how does this work?
The answer lies in the structure of the brain. Obviously, a human baby's brain is not completely unwired as was once thought. There are basal neuron connections already in place, and it is these connections that allow a baby to do things without being trained. The limbic part of the brain is where these pre-wired instincts exist. The limbic system is what controls our reactions to stimuli. That's obviously where a lot of the instincts reside. This limbic brain is more primitive and lies on both sides of the thalamus right under the cortex. It's often called the paleomammalian (ancient) brain, suggesting that it is a product of a more primitive evolutionary step. The limbic system supports many bodily functions, including emotion and motivation. It also contains the hippocampus, the part of the brain that deals with cognition and learning. What better place to contain wired-in instincts.
Instinct is another proof that we evolved. These innate behaviors were learned by our ancestor species and are wired into our brains and passed on to our prodigy. They are essentially a history or our evolution recorded into our brains.
Another proof for evolution is how the fetus develops. It develops gills like a fish, but they are absorbed or changed into lungs. This indicates how we came from a reptilian species that evolved lungs after crawling out onto land. It's no wonder that we have instincts. Instincts are windows into our ancient past.
Thanks for reading.