Vegas
05-12-2007, 11:39 AM
http://www.news.com.au/sundaytelegraph/story/0,22049,21720010-5006009,00.html
AUSTRALIAN scientists have unlocked the secrets of baby babble and found infants as young as eight months have sophisticated communication skills.
In a world-first experiment, babies were left in a room - without an adult - to see how they interacted with one another. Researchers discovered clear signs of jealousy, resentment and rejection.
The babies also showed feelings of empathy and sympathy towards one another, as well as humour, joy and the need to belong in a group.
"It's unequivocal that they're communicating with one another in what we call 'baby time','' said child clinical psychologist Rudi Crncec, who conducted the research with Dr Stephen Malloch.
Sixty babies took part in the study, at the University of Western Sydney.
They were divided into groups of three, placed in strollers and left in a room without an adult for as long as 10 minutes.
Researchers and the babies' mothers watched the infants from another room, via closed-circuit television.
"We found that babies can perceive and express emotions from quite early on,'' Dr Crncec said. "There was smiling, gesturing, mimicking, eye contact and gooing and gaaing.
"And when one of the infants started to cry, we saw sympathetic crying from the other two.''
A fascinating aspect of the study was the discovery that the babies had shown concern and empathy for one another. Dr Crncec said they would reach out if one was in distress.
"We also found a particularly chirpy, bubbly infant in a trio might coax the quieter ones out.''
But there were also early signs of social rejection, which happened when two infants hit it off and left the third baby out.
The ground-breaking research was presented at the recent World Congress of Infant Mental Health in Paris.
Dr Crncec said: "Previous theorists in this area argued that unless there's an adult in the room with the infant, they wouldn't communicate.''
The research findings showed that the social and emotional capacities of babies had been vastly under-estimated, he said.
He added: "This has shown that babies are quite emotionally and socially engaged, and that relationships are importantto them.
The babies enjoyedeach other's company ... and appeared to have their ownlanguage of communication.
"When a baby grabbed his leg, the other one followed. If one smacked his lips together, the others tried to copy.''
Some of the trios had "a wail of a time'', Dr Crncec said. "We're all social animals, and this may be an early example of that.''
AUSTRALIAN scientists have unlocked the secrets of baby babble and found infants as young as eight months have sophisticated communication skills.
In a world-first experiment, babies were left in a room - without an adult - to see how they interacted with one another. Researchers discovered clear signs of jealousy, resentment and rejection.
The babies also showed feelings of empathy and sympathy towards one another, as well as humour, joy and the need to belong in a group.
"It's unequivocal that they're communicating with one another in what we call 'baby time','' said child clinical psychologist Rudi Crncec, who conducted the research with Dr Stephen Malloch.
Sixty babies took part in the study, at the University of Western Sydney.
They were divided into groups of three, placed in strollers and left in a room without an adult for as long as 10 minutes.
Researchers and the babies' mothers watched the infants from another room, via closed-circuit television.
"We found that babies can perceive and express emotions from quite early on,'' Dr Crncec said. "There was smiling, gesturing, mimicking, eye contact and gooing and gaaing.
"And when one of the infants started to cry, we saw sympathetic crying from the other two.''
A fascinating aspect of the study was the discovery that the babies had shown concern and empathy for one another. Dr Crncec said they would reach out if one was in distress.
"We also found a particularly chirpy, bubbly infant in a trio might coax the quieter ones out.''
But there were also early signs of social rejection, which happened when two infants hit it off and left the third baby out.
The ground-breaking research was presented at the recent World Congress of Infant Mental Health in Paris.
Dr Crncec said: "Previous theorists in this area argued that unless there's an adult in the room with the infant, they wouldn't communicate.''
The research findings showed that the social and emotional capacities of babies had been vastly under-estimated, he said.
He added: "This has shown that babies are quite emotionally and socially engaged, and that relationships are importantto them.
The babies enjoyedeach other's company ... and appeared to have their ownlanguage of communication.
"When a baby grabbed his leg, the other one followed. If one smacked his lips together, the others tried to copy.''
Some of the trios had "a wail of a time'', Dr Crncec said. "We're all social animals, and this may be an early example of that.''