Babies
need time to gaze, ponder and dwell on things in order to learn. Researchers
found in a recent study that babies learn by looking at their surroundings. Spencer
and his team created model that mimics how infants use looking to comprehend
their environment. “Looking” is important because it helps children form
memories. This also means that how adults and social partners interact and
engage with babies can greatly influence how & what infants look at, learn,
and develop. Adults who are attuned jiggle, or attract a child’s gaze to engage
his or her attention.
Babies
learn more in a "responsive" world. For infant care-teachers this
means slowing the pace, using “narrative” conversations and noticing where a
child looks and responding. Nothing new to those of us who know and care for
babies, but always good to be reminded that what we do and how we respond matters
in big ways.
Source:
Sammy
Perone, John P. Spencer. Autonomy in Action: Linking the
Act of Looking to Memory Formation in Infancy via Dynamic Neural Fields. Cognitive
Science, 2012; DOI: 10.1111/cogs.12010
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