Babies as Young as 5 Months’ Old can Recognize Other Babies’ Moods

A new study conducted by American researchers has found that babies as young as five months are able to identify with other babies’ moods. Researchers at Brigham Young University, Utah, selected 40 babies and showed them two silent videos, one of which contained a smiling and happy baby and the second showed a sad and frowning one, while the sound played was that of a third happy baby.

The researchers found that when they listened to the sound being played, the babies looked at the monitor showing the video of a happy baby, leading the researchers to conclude that the babies are able to recognize other babies’ moods.

“We found five month old infants can match their peer’s positive and negative vocalisations with the appropriate facial expression. Newborns cannot verbalise to their mum or dad they are hungry or tired, so the first way they communicate is through affect or emotion. Thus it is not surprising in early development, infants learn to discriminate changes in affect”, lead researcher Professor Ross Flom said.

Source-Medindia