When does the brain 'switch on'? I am pursuing Computational Neuro-Science and learning about human Brain. After some reading I got this doubt that when does the brain actually gets switched on? Does it happen right in the mother's womb or when the baby comes out? or Is it wrong on my part to assume that the brain gets switched on one particular moment?
I love this question. While I don't have a definitive answer, I can help with some known factors of child development.

There are studies suggesting that the parents' voices and repeated music is heard in the womb by the fetus and responded to after birth.

Specific studies (see: http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2013/08/babies-learn-recognize-words-womb) classify the third trimester (last three months) of development in the womb to be the key point at which sensory hearing and brain function/classification is active, thus suggesting the brain is "turned on" during or prior to the last trimester.

I would love to hear further studies from others that clarify this point.