An Evolutionary Root For 'Goo Goo' And 'Ga Ga' In Babies?
Thursday, October 8, 2009 - 12:14
in Psychology & Sociology
Researchers studying Rhesus Macaque mothers and writing on their results in Current Biology have determined that interactions of macaque mothers with their infants have a lot of similarity to human mothers in the first month of a newborn's life. "What does a mother or father do when looking at their own baby?" asks Pier Francesco Ferrari of the Università di Parma in Italy. "They smile at them and exaggerate their gestures, modify their voice pitch—the so-called "motherese"—and kiss them. What we found in mother macaques is very similar: they exaggerate their gestures, "kiss" their baby, and have sustained mutual gaze." read more