Babies less than 24 hours old are particularly sensitive to language and gaze, according to a new study from French researchers at Paris Descartes University.
Researchers wanted to study the connection between direct gaze and speech, in terms of the ways newborns process information about faces and general social cognition.
In the study, recently published in the online journal PLoS ONE, scientists played videos of unfamiliar talking faces with either a direct gaze or an averted gaze. Then they showed the newborns photographs of the previously seen faces and new ones.
They found that the newborns looked longer at the face that previously talked to them – but only those who had gazed directly.
Researchers believe this highlights the importance of both speech and eye contact as social cues that help infants recognize others. They believed that gaze and infant-directed speech can be powerful cues that help the development of early social skills.