Babies and adult caregivers form a feedback loop, affecting each other.
Taking care of a baby all day has its ups and downs. The child can be fussy, the day can be long and communicating is, well, tricky. You might feel miles apart. But if you’ve felt like you really are on the same wavelength at playtime, it’s because you are.
A study done at Princeton found that your brain syncs up with your baby’s when you play together. It was found that baby and adult brain activity rises and falls at the same time when you share toys and make eye contact with each other. When you turn away from each other, this coupling disappears.
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The research was part of work being done at the Princeton Baby Lab.
“While communicating, the adult and child seem to form a feedback loop,” said Elise Piazza, an associate research scholar in the Princeton Neuroscience Institute . “That is, the adult’s brain seemed to predict when the infants would smile, the infants’ brains anticipated when the adult would use more ‘baby talk,’ and both brains tracked joint eye contact and joint attention to toys. So, when a baby and adult play together, their brains influence each other in dynamic ways.”
Researchers say they were surprised to find that infants’ brains are often ‘leading’ the adult brain by a few seconds, guiding the adults as they play.
But is play only for the young? This woman thinks not. Check out this 101 year-old woman as she plays in the snow, in British Columbia, Canada.
