The Importance of Faces for Infants’ Learning
Blog Post
Photo by Mathew Lester
Oct. 25, 2018
The Learning Sciences Exchange (LSX) is a cross-sector program designed to bring together journalists, entertainment producers, policy influencers, and researchers around the science of early learning. As part of the program, our fellows contribute to EdCentral and BOLD, the blog on learning development at the Jacobs Foundation. Click here to learn more about LSX and our partners.
I was recently watching a mother play with her 6-month-old baby on a bench in the park. The mother was lifting the infant up so their faces were aligned, and she was talking to her in a high-pitched melody. The mother set the infant’s feet on her lap, allowing her to bounce, and then continued to talk and make playful faces in an attempt to make the baby smile.
The infant stared intently at her mother’s face watching her mother’s mouth move, listening to the sounds that came out of it and then shifting her gaze to the mother’s eyes and eyebrows that were expressing happiness. Occasionally the infant showed a smirk, which was followed by the mother responding with “such a big smile” in soft, but emotional tone.
This brief interaction between a mother and infant is a great example of just how much infants learn from the faces they see every day. They learn information important for recognizing identity like the color of the skin and shape of the features. They learn to attend to things that move, like eyebrows and mouths, and how these movements go together or occur at the same time they hear sounds, like a voice talking or singing.
Click here to read the full piece.