October 18, 2013
By Anna Lacey
"Peek-A-Boo: A Window on Baby's Brain"
A baby’s first laugh is the most unforgettable moment in a parent’s
life. But what are they laughing at? Babies cannot laugh at something unless
they get the joke. Their laughter tells us a great deal of their understanding
of the world. Does this mean that the babies that laugh at an early age are
intelligent and have a great understanding of the surrounding world? These
questions were somewhat answered by Dr. Caspar Addyman, a baby laughter
researcher at Birkbeck College in London. According to Dr. Addyman, babies can
smile and laugh in response to pleasant feelings, which can be as young as one
month old. He then used laughter to
track the babies’ understanding and intelligence at a young age. Dr. Addyman discovered that when parents play
peek-a-boo with a one month old baby, the babies with higher intelligence will
not only laugh but also anticipate when their parents will reappear. However,
on the other hand, some babies get shocked and startled at peek-a-boo because
they believe that not seeing the parent’s face means
that they have actually disappeared. Accordingly, these babies do not get the
joke. Peek-a-boo is all about shared communication. There is a potential link
between laughter and language development. Children could pick up the rhythm of
conversation through playing games and laughter.
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