Sophisticated Communication from 8-Month-Old Babies

Scientific American:

New parents love the developmental milestones – the first smile, crab-like crawl, and “ma-ma-ma” are unforgettable. Around their first birthday, babies start pointing, a communicative gesture that is universally, and uniquely, understood by humans. More than ever before, parents have insight into precisely what their babies are interested in; Oh, you want the Snoopy doll next to the book? Sure, here you go. But, what if babies are communicating with us about objects even earlier?

According to new findings in the Journal of Psychological Science, babies younger than one year can also communicate through gestures. Researchers Ramenzoni and Liszkowski from the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics designed a clever experiment to see if babies, before they could point, would seek-out help by putting them in that tricky situation we’ve all been in – having the object of our desire just out of reach.

Read the whole story: Scientific American