Facial emotion 'recognised by babies'
27 Aug 2008Babies can understand the emotion in a face much earlier than previously thought, a team of researcher has said.
Experts claim that children as young as four months old can read the emotion in someone's face and that their brains react to it.
Non-verbal signals such as smiling and raising the eyebrows are examples of two such emotions which babies can read, the researchers found.
"In four-month-old babies we demonstrate very early specialisation, and indeed, an adult-like pattern of activation of the brain regions that process face-to-face social interaction," Dr Grossman of the Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck, University of London which worked on the study told the Telegraph.
The scientist say the knowledge may one day enable doctors to better recognise brain disorders such as autism at a much earlier age.
"We are not claiming it could diagnose autism - merely that it may prove a useful early warning signal," said Prof Johnson who was also on the research team.
A separate study from experts in Italy recently revealed that babies' brains appear to like repeated syllables which may be why "mama" and "dada" are so commonly their first words.
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