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The heartwarming interaction between a parent and their baby, characterized by cooing, smiles, and playful gestures, isn’t just a delightful scene – it’s also crucial for the infant’s language development, according to new research from the University of Washington’s Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences (I-LABS).
Published in Current Biology, the study utilized magnetoencephalography (MEG), a safe brain-imaging technique, to monitor infant brain activity during social and nonsocial interactions with adults. The findings showed that when adults engaged socially with 5-month-old babies, the infants’ brain activity surged in regions responsible for attention, predicting enhanced language development in the future.
Lead author Alexis Bosseler, a research scientist at I-LABS, highlighted the significance of the study, stating, “This is the first study to directly compare infant brain responses to adult-infant social interaction versus nonsocial interaction and then follow up with the children to see how the early brain activation relates to future language abilities.”
MEG technology allowed researchers to observe natural interactions between adults and babies while tracking neural activity in the infants’ brains. They found that increased brain activity during social interactions at 5 months predicted improved language skills at later ages, up to 30 months.
Co-author Andrew Meltzoff, I-LABS co-director, emphasized the importance of early brain reactions in language development and stressed the study’s implications for understanding the critical period for speech-language learning, which begins around 6 months of age.
The use of “parentese” – a high-pitched, exaggerated form of speech used by adults when interacting with infants – reflects a desire for connection and communication, noted senior author Patricia Kuhl, co-director of I-LABS.
Kuhl emphasized the study’s relevance for parents and early educators, highlighting the impact of natural social interactions, including parentese, smiles, and responsive gestures, on infant brain development.
“The study shows that parents’ natural use of parentese, coupled with smiles, touch, and their warm back-and-forth responses to the baby’s actions, have a real-world, measurable impact on the baby’s brain,” Kuhl said. “This parent behavior, which we call ‘the social ensemble,’ captures and holds infants’ attention and motivates them to learn at a critical time in development.”
The study underscores the importance of nurturing social interactions in infancy for promoting language skills and lays the groundwork for further exploration into the mechanisms underlying early language development.
