THE MONTH OF HAPPINESS: the language of emotions of babies

Infants recognise the emotions of their peers from the age of five months.

This surprising discovery was confirmed by Brigham Young University (Utah) psychology professor Ross Flom, who in 2005, with his researchers, conducted a study showing that infants can communicate their needs through emotions and that is why they can recognise them in their peers.

The research, published in 2005 in the academic journal ‘Infancy’, is the first to have demonstrated such a young child’s ability to interact with his or her peers. The toddlers, through warbles and facial expressions, use a more effective method of communication than crying.

SEARCH

Flom and his team of researchers tested the ability of children to match the vocalisation of an emotion to the corresponding facial expression.

Forty children were placed in front of two monitors on which an infant with a happy expression and one with a sad expression appeared. As they watched the monitors, the joyful voice of one of them was transmitted, and on this occasion the attention of the little ones was focused on the face of the happy child.

HAPPY MONTH

The researchers’ focus has been on five-month-old children in accordance with Flom’s definition of “the month of cheerfulness, the creative month par excellence”. It is the period when they begin to interact with the outside world through vocalisations, warbles and gestures, transmitting all their vitality to the delight of parents and grandparents eager to establish a dialogue with their little ones.

One of the reasons behind a child’s cognitive and motor development is also the growth in the circumference of the skull accompanied by an enhancement of the social component. Curiosity about the world around him encourages him to explore it and communicate with it. Every action is directed towards the exciting exploration of others.

Parents

Professor Flom has observed that parents are fundamentally eager to know what their little ones want to communicate, and are central to their neural development and education. The process of socialising children as they grow up will be fundamental to their intelligence, understood as the ability to be in the world and establish relationships. This capacity is referred to as ‘social intelligence’.

Researchers also claim that there is a positive correlation between the ability to communicate and intelligence development, so it is not certain that those who excel in non-verbal communication will later develop greater aptitude for language and dialectical skills.

Another striking development is the ability of young children to understand and interpret music.
Their favourite musician? Beethoven!

Thanks to concerts performed at Brigham Young University’s Baby Lab, Flom verified how children appreciate melodies that instil serenity and well-being.
“I was amazed at how quickly they grasp the difference between upbeat and sombre music!” says Flom, with the children in particular seeming to appreciate the Ode to Joy, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, the most.

Once again, children have the power to surprise us. When our little ones engage in shrieks, warbles and imitations, let us observe them and try to listen to them carefully, perhaps they are trying to make us share in their joy of being in the world and ask for our participation and approval.