(Press-News.org) Contact information: Kallie Huss
onepress@plos.org
415-568-3162
Public Library of Science
Baby brains are tuned to the specific actions of others
Observing body movements activates related brain regions in infants
Infant brains are surprisingly sensitive to other people's movements, according to new research published October 30th in the open-access journal PLOS ONE, by Joni Saby and colleagues at Temple University and the University of Washington.
When adults see other humans making movements with specific body parts, the parts of their brains devoted to moving those body parts also become activated. While watching someone moving their hand, the part of your cortex devoted to moving your own hand also becomes active. There are various developmental and evolutionary theories as to why this might be the case, one of which being that it might be a neurobiological foundation of our ability to imitate others, which is necessary for cultural learning and language development. Until now, however, this phenomenon has only been observed in adults, and researchers chose to investigate whether the infant brain also shows this sensitivity.
In this study, the authors used non-invasive recordings over the scalp of infants to show that when they observed other people using their hands, activity in the hand areas of their cortex increased. Likewise, when infants observed other people moving their feet, activity in the foot areas of their cortex increased.
This provides evidence that infant brains are tuned to the mere observation of other people's actions, which offers new clues toward our understanding of imitation and cultural learning. Co-author Andrew Meltzoff expands, "The neural system of babies directly connects them to other people, which jumpstarts imitation and social-emotional connectedness and bonding. Babies look at you and see themselves."
INFORMATION:
Citation: Saby JN, Meltzoff AN, Marshall PJ (2013) Infants' Somatotopic Neural Responses to Seeing Human Actions: I've Got You under My Skin. PLoS ONE 8(10): e77905. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0077905
Financial Disclosure: This work was funded by an NIH (HD-68734) award to PJM and NSF (SMA-0835854) award to ANM. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Competing Interest Statement: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
PLEASE LINK TO THE SCIENTIFIC ARTICLE IN ONLINE VERSIONS OF YOUR REPORT (URL goes live after the embargo ends): http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0077905
Disclaimer: This press release refers to upcoming articles in PLOS ONE. The releases have been provided by the article authors and/or journal staff. Any opinions expressed in these are the personal views of the contributors, and do not necessarily represent the views or policies of PLOS. PLOS expressly disclaims any and all warranties and liability in connection with the information found in the release and article and your use of such information.
About PLOS ONE: PLOS ONE is the first journal of primary research from all areas of science to employ a combination of peer review and post-publication rating and commenting, to maximize the impact of every report it publishes. PLOS ONE is published by the Public Library of Science (PLOS), the open-access publisher whose goal is to make the world's scientific and medical literature a public resource.
All works published in PLOS ONE are Open Access. Everything is immediately available—to read, download, redistribute, include in databases and otherwise use—without cost to anyone, anywhere, subject only to the condition that the original authors and source are properly attributed. For more information about PLOS ONE relevant to journalists, bloggers and press officers, including details of our press release process and our embargo policy, see the everyONE blog at http://everyone.plos.org/media.
Baby brains are tuned to the specific actions of others
Observing body movements activates related brain regions in infants
2013-10-31
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
First results from LUX dark matter detector rule out some candidates
2013-10-31
First results from LUX dark matter detector rule out some candidates
Results from the first run of the Large Underground Xenon (LUX) experiment operating a mile underground in the Black Hills of South Dakota, have proven the detector's sensitivity and ruled ...
Babies can learn their first lullabies in the womb
2013-10-31
Babies can learn their first lullabies in the womb
The study focused on 24 women during the final trimester of their pregnancies. Half of the women played the melody of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to their fetuses five days a week for the final stages ...
New SARS-like coronavirus discovered in Chinese horseshoe bats
2013-10-31
New SARS-like coronavirus discovered in Chinese horseshoe bats
10 years after SARS outbreak -- Ecohealth Alliance finds plausible evidence for direct bat to human transmission
NEW YORK – October 30, 2013 – EcoHealth Alliance, a nonprofit organization that ...
Mystery planet baffles astronomers
2013-10-31
Mystery planet baffles astronomers
Kepler-78b is a planet that shouldn't exist. This scorching lava world circles its star every eight and a half hours at a distance of less than one million miles - one of the tightest known orbits. ...
New multiple action intestinal hormone corrects diabetes
2013-10-31
New multiple action intestinal hormone corrects diabetes
Scientists from the Helmholtz Zentrum Muenchen and the Technische Universitaet Muenchen, together with scientists in the USA, have ...
Public insurance fills the health coverage gap, new UCLA analysis shows
2013-10-31
Public insurance fills the health coverage gap, new UCLA analysis shows
In the years leading up to implementation of the Affordable Care Act, the percentage of Californians who received their health insurance through public programs continued to rise, ...
New study compares provisional and two-stent strategies for coronary bifurcation lesions
2013-10-31
New study compares provisional and two-stent strategies for coronary bifurcation lesions
Results of the Nordic-Baltic Bifurcation IV trial presented at TCT 2013
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – OCTOBER 30, 2013 – A new clinical trial shows that a two-stent technique for treatment of ...
TGen-led research shows ability to do next-generation sequencing for patients with advanced cancers
2013-10-31
TGen-led research shows ability to do next-generation sequencing for patients with advanced cancers
Faster analysis of genetic variations should uncover new drug targets and pathways even as cancers mutate beyond initial therapies
SCOTTSDALE, ...
Stanford researchers show how universe's violent youth seeded cosmos with iron
2013-10-31
Stanford researchers show how universe's violent youth seeded cosmos with iron
New evidence that iron is spread evenly between the galaxies in one of the largest galaxy clusters in the universe supports the theory that the universe underwent a turbulent and ...
Absence of the SMG1 protein could contribute to Parkinson's and other neurological disorders
2013-10-31
Absence of the SMG1 protein could contribute to Parkinson's and other neurological disorders
TGen-led study links lack of SMG1 to protein aggregates associated with Parkinson's disease, forms of dementia and multiple systems atrophy
PHOENIX, ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
Public take the lead in discovery of new exploding star
What are they vaping? Study reveals alarming surge in adolescent vaping of THC, CBD, and synthetic cannabinoids
ECMWF - delivering forecasts over 10 times faster and cutting energy usage by 1000
Brazilian neuroscientist reveals how viral infections transform the brain through microscopic detective work
Turning social fragmentation into action through discovering relatedness
Cheese may really be giving you nightmares, scientists find
Study reveals most common medical emergencies in schools
Breathable yet protective: Next-gen medical textiles with micro/nano networks
Frequency-engineered MXene supercapacitors enable efficient pulse charging in TENG–SC hybrid systems
Developed an AI-based classification system for facial pigmented lesions
Achieving 20% efficiency in halogen-free organic solar cells via isomeric additive-mediated sequential processing
New book Terraglossia reclaims language, Country and culture
The most effective diabetes drugs don't reach enough patients yet
Breast cancer risk in younger women may be influenced by hormone therapy
Strategies for staying smoke-free after rehab
Commentary questions the potential benefit of levothyroxine treatment of mild hypothyroidism during pregnancy
Study projects over 14 million preventable deaths by 2030 if USAID defunding continues
New study reveals 33% gap in transplant access for UK’s poorest children
Dysregulated epigenetic memory in early embryos offers new clues to the inheritance of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)
IVF and IUI pregnancy rates remain stable across Europe, despite an increasing uptake of single embryo transfer
It takes a village: Chimpanzee babies do better when their moms have social connections
From lab to market: how renewable polymers could transform medicine
Striking increase in obesity observed among youth between 2011 and 2023
No evidence that medications trigger microscopic colitis in older adults
NYUAD researchers find link between brain growth and mental health disorders
Aging-related inflammation is not universal across human populations, new study finds
University of Oregon to create national children’s mental health center with $11 million federal grant
Rare achievement: UTA undergrad publishes research
Fact or fiction? The ADHD info dilemma
Genetic ancestry linked to risk of severe dengue
[Press-News.org] Baby brains are tuned to the specific actions of othersObserving body movements activates related brain regions in infants