Brainwaves synchronise between adults and infants when eye contact is made

The University of Cambridge’s Baby-LINC Lab have conducted research into whether infants synchronise their brainwaves to adults’ brainwaves the way they do with emotions, heartrate and gaze.

 

Brainwaves reflect the group-level activity of millions of neurons and are involved in information transfer between brain regions. Previous studies have shown that when two adults are talking to each other, communication is more successful in their brainwaves are in synchrony

 

The brainwave patterns of 36 infants were examined using electroencephalography (EEG) while an adult was singing them a nursery rhyme. The infants’ brain activity was then compared with that of the corresponding adult to determine if there is any correlation.

The research revealed that infants’ brainwaves are more synchronised to the corresponding adult’s when they are making eye contact compared with when the adults’ gaze in averted. The most pronounced correlation was when the adult turned her head away from the infant but maintained eye contact. The researchers believe this may be because the eye contact appears very deliberate and therefore has a stronger impact on the infant.

Two separate methods were used to carry out the research; the first using a video recording of the adult which the infant was watching, and the second with an adult live in front of the child with the adult’s brainwaves being monitored simultaneously to determine if the interaction affected the adult’s brainwaves in reverse.

When the infant could see the adult and not just a video screen, the brainwaves of the adult and the infant became more synchronised when mutual eye contact was established. According to the researchers, brainwave synchronisation is not simply responsive to seeing a face or something of interest, but about a mutual intention to communicate. This was determined by monitoring the ‘vocalisations’ attempted by each infant, which were increased during direct eye contact with the adult, suggesting the infants’ increased efforts for communication. Interestingly, the infants with the highest brainwave synchronisation with the adult were those making the longest ‘vocalisations’.

 

 

When the adult and infant are looking at each other, they are signalling their availability and intention to communicate with each other.  We found that both adult and infant brains respond to a gaze signal by becoming more in sync with their partner. This mechanism could prepare parents and babies to communicate, by synchronising when to speak and when to listen, which would also make learning more effective

Dr Victoria Leong, lead author on the study

This research was supported by an ESRC Transformative Research Grant to Dr Leong and Dr Wass.