digg

Join DiggAbout

The Digg Crew wants to hear your thoughts!
Please take our short survey about Digg and potential feature ideas.

New Study: Babies Can Recognize Emotion in Faces

telegraph.co.uk — Babies as young as four months are able to recognise emotions in people's faces, according to a new study. Scientists found that even before they start talking babies are able to pick up on "non-verbal" signals we use to communicate, such as the eyebrows being raised by a smile to indicate friendship.

show profanity settings
expand all
  • selmer, on 08/27/2008, -7/+36Big deal...I recognize emotion in people's faces all the time.
    • zadadka, on 08/27/2008, -5/+1Hey ! You're cool !
      A baby that can do this and elect to type words into Digg comments better than an infinite number of monkeys?
      At age 12months or less?
      Awesome.
    • iancgi, on 08/28/2008, -0/+2i cant believe u got dugg up for such a stupid comment.
  • allaboutdatiki, on 08/27/2008, -9/+9Babies are the coolest. If it weren't for all the poop ...
    • Killah_xxx, on 08/27/2008, -0/+4And the screaming, and carefulness, and the attention it draws to itself....

      (ps dont care if you digg me down, you guys know its the truth. even though this is annoying, it doesn't EVER make the baby unlovable. there might be days where you'd rather be "dead" than waking up at 6AM to a screaming baby, to change diapers.)
    • Slade605, on 08/27/2008, -0/+1babies are against the rules.
    • zip000, on 08/28/2008, -0/+2I really don't mind changing my baby's diaper - the occasional screaming for no good reason though can be frustrating.
  • HastyBoom, on 08/27/2008, -4/+14Thought this was from the Onion.
  • smitas, on 08/27/2008, -1/+3Why can't they keep this up after they are grown ups?
  • EllieElliott, on 08/27/2008, -6/+7of course they do, it's part of our basic design.
  • WiseWeasel, on 08/27/2008, -3/+51Too bad they can't recognize the 'STFU and stop crying/babeling' expression, mistaking it for 'cry louder'...
  • Harabeck, on 08/27/2008, -3/+5My 7 month old niece has been able to tell if you were making fun of her for months now, and will immediately get pissed and cry.
    • blackfox026, on 08/27/2008, -1/+9maybe you shouldn't make fun of a 7 month old child
      • wrathoftheafe, on 08/28/2008, -0/+5i dunno, if i ***** on myself in public i'd kinda expect to be made fun of
  • thestorey, on 08/27/2008, -0/+9Oh so that's why they smile back when i smile at them... No ***** .... D:
  • RuyGuy, on 08/27/2008, -5/+15Newer study: adults don't give a ***** about this.
  • TheJimid, on 08/27/2008, -1/+6Neglects to mention they pretend not to recognize quiet time face.....little haters.
  • peter78, on 08/27/2008, -1/+15If you have a baby or interact with babies, none of this is really new.

    It's quite obvious that babies understand facial expressions. When a baby looks at you, it will often pause to interpret your face (if you are new). If you smile or laugh, then they will smile. If you furrow your brow and make an angry or sad face, the baby will also grow sad. It's uncanny how babies can detect emotions through expressions (I learned all of this through my nephew).
    • yukonjackal, on 08/27/2008, -2/+0Yes but do babies understand a good beating?
    • RobotBuddha, on 08/27/2008, -0/+2It's not new if you've read any papers on the subject in the past 15 years.

      However, and I don't mean any offense by this, anecdotal evidence in the case of adult/child relation is one of the absolute worst you can find in all human experience. We're hardwired to our species young so strongly that all logic can easily go out the door. The angry mob yelling "Think of the children!", or the parents who think their slow child is a repressed genius is a cliche for a reason. Instinct takes over from rational evaluation of the situation very quickly.
      • TheDreadDiggerD, on 08/28/2008, -0/+1THINK OF THE CHILDREN! Let them hurt themselves!!!
    • Dathann, on 08/28/2008, -0/+0If you have common sense none of this is new. Here's new study idea for those of you lacking common sense and need to do these studies: Some Animals Can Recognize Emotion in Faces.
      • Stroggoth, on 08/28/2008, -0/+0Yep. Cats learn your emotions. If I make an excited eyes-open face, she will run over and get excited. I think any animal that looks at faces in general can easily figure this stuff out because nonverbal communication came first in the animal world.
  • prossi10, on 08/27/2008, -3/+15So can my dog.......
    • Killah_xxx, on 08/27/2008, -0/+4Yeah, the dog (at least my dog) can even show it's own emotion through facial expression to a certain extent.
  • dcollins, on 08/27/2008, -1/+5But we can still yell at them for the first for months, right?
    • xptoast, on 08/28/2008, -1/+1four...please spell right...at least a little better. I try to stave off my affection for correction of ill typed sentences but after a while I can't hold it in anymore. So please help me keep my sanity and start typing a little better. Please...I freaking beg it of you folks.
  • Bungleboss, on 08/27/2008, -0/+9As a father of several children, I would just like to say.." No *****, Sherlock"

    Plus, my dog farts bad looks.
  • IG64, on 08/27/2008, -0/+0I've also heard that facial expressions are universal among people, no matter where you are in the world.

    I can also swear my dog smiles sometimes.
  • TaintBrush, on 08/27/2008, -5/+10I like to shake them until their emotion-recognizing faces go blank.
  • t4stringer, on 08/27/2008, -1/+1pretty cool study
  • rhoman23, on 08/27/2008, -3/+2How many dead babies does it take to paint a fence?
  • govarddin, on 08/27/2008, -1/+2This will help you...
  • MidnightRIder77, on 08/27/2008, -1/+3Then why do they always laugh at scary faces?
  • zadadka, on 08/27/2008, -1/+2Anyone who is even a vaguely interested parent will know there is nothing new about this.
    Young children (from babies to 10+) are whiteboards, utterly reliant on the emotional feedback from parents and others to confirm their actions and responses to stimuli are correct.
    What f*cks them up is when parents and others affectate their responses with their own selfishness, for example:
    "I painted this picture for you Daddy"...Daddy, who has (eg) had a bad day, says "that's crap".
    This knocks the child back months if not years in development.

    Child cruelty does not require physical torment for it to be child cruelty.
    Simply not SHOWING your love is enough.
    • frasermoo, on 08/28/2008, -0/+4let it all out son. let it all out.
    • Stroggoth, on 08/28/2008, -0/+0>""I painted this picture for you Daddy"...Daddy, who has (eg) had a bad day, says "that's crap".
      >This knocks the child back months if not years in development."
      >Simply not SHOWING your love is enough

      You have said volumes about your own childhood here; an abusive father who criticized your creative works, and a promise that you will never do the same to your own child. Your predicament saddens because I can only imagine how crushed you were when your father told you it was crap.

  • russnem, on 08/27/2008, -0/+2It's not the faces. It's the emotion. And this guy is the "Science Editor"???
  • Slade605, on 08/27/2008, -0/+3I think this would have been more enjoyable to read if the title was "New Study: Babies"
  • Kahnza, on 08/27/2008, -0/+2Autistic kids just don't get it. I still don't. :(
    • JapaneseEconomy, on 08/28/2008, -0/+1Well understanding how to use emoticons like you just used is a start ;-)

      New technologies and training methods are coming on the horizon are capable of improving Autistic children's facial recognition ability.
  • Berkana, on 08/27/2008, -0/+5In other news, studies show that the sky is dark at night.
  • ousthouse, on 08/27/2008, -0/+1Who funded this "research"?
  • xsquirrel378x, on 08/27/2008, -3/+1heh what a ***** accomplishment, stupid babies
  • xelloss, on 08/27/2008, -0/+2How is this a new study, I watched a whole program about babies recognizing emotions like 4 years ago.
  • negativenancy, on 08/28/2008, -1/+2Yeah this is cool in all, but aren't we forgetting the REAL question behind this discovery?

    How is babby formed?
  • crackerjack20, on 08/28/2008, -0/+0Yeah, this is really old news. I can't believe some scientist got money to study this stuff. My kids, and every other kid I've ever been around, prove this on a daily basis. Maybe they're do another study discovering that water is wet, the sky is blue, and John McCain is an ass.
  • mentiepoo, on 08/28/2008, -0/+6New study: babies are human
  • wrathoftheafe, on 08/28/2008, -0/+3so its almost like they are real people
  • hellokitty101, on 08/28/2008, -0/+1NEW STUDY WASTES TIMES AND MONEY AND CONFIRMS WHAT IS ALREADY KNOWN!

    Computational Intelligence in Robotics and Automation, 2003. Proceedings. 2003 IEEE International Symposium on Volume 3, Issue , 16-20 July 2003 Page(s): 1233 - 1238 vol.3.

    http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/Xplore/login.jsp?url=/i ...

    "We implemented a self-learning system onto the robot for understanding the expressions. The self-learning system models the process that a baby learns his/her parent's facial expressions."

  • iancgi, on 08/28/2008, -0/+1wow... make sure u digg users who have never had any pussy yet remember to wear a condom. Cause judging by this thread we have some really ***** parents to be.
  • SubjectiveC, on 08/28/2008, -0/+1Not Baby Hitler, he didn't. That's why they call him Hitler.
  • wispygalaxy, on 08/28/2008, -0/+1negativenancy is referring to: http://www.somethingawful.com/flash/shmorky/babby. ...
    • wispygalaxy, on 08/28/2008, -0/+1Oops, I meant to reply to negativenancy's comment. Sorry about that.
    • justiceape, on 08/28/2008, -0/+1Oh God, that was great. I'm wiping tears from my eyes. For about ten seconds, that's the funniest ***** ever.
  • Obamaisourhope, on 08/28/2008, -0/+1File this in the no ***** category
  • Darkyuubi, on 08/28/2008, -0/+1Wait. How is this news? Basic emotional recognition is hardwired into a humans brain for obvious reasons. (being able to tell between friend and foe thus responding accordingly) I don't understand why this is the latest and greatest cognitive discovery...
  • Grolsch, on 08/28/2008, -0/+2New study? I learned this in my intro psychology class...
  • justiceape, on 08/28/2008, -0/+2This just in: babies are small.
  • yerlamow, on 08/28/2008, -0/+0I think all people know this.
  • MrsSpooky, on 08/28/2008, -0/+1I had to digg this article trumpeting old news just for the comments. You guys are killing me over here. :D
  • jontalisman, on 08/28/2008, -0/+1New Study: Babies Dig Milk - film at 11!
  • lornali, on 08/28/2008, -0/+1Do we understand babies?
  • smurfsahoy, on 08/28/2008, -0/+1If babies couldn't do things like this from birth, then they would never learn anything or mature. It doesn't require a study.

    That said, there have already been many studies on this anyway. In fact, there have been many studies on more surprising things - like picking up on VERBAL communication BEFORE birth.

    I just lost some serious respect for the journal NeuroImage - although since I've never heard of it, despite being a cognitive researcher, I guess there wasn't much to lose.
  •  

    Login or register to add a comment

    Create a new account or login to join in the conversation on Digg. You'll also be able to Digg stories to help promote things you like.


© Digg Inc. 2008 — Content posted by Digg users is dedicated to the public domain.
DIGG, DIGG IT, DUGG, DIGG THIS, Digg graphics, logos, designs, page headers, button icons, scripts, and other service names are the trademarks of Digg Inc.