Not Just Food, Infants Chew on Social Cues at Dinner Table

                Babies do a lot more than just playing with their Sippy cups on the dinner table. A study says that babies pay close attention to what food is being eaten around them and especially who is eating it. The study adds that evidence to a growing body of research suggesting even very young children think in sophisticated ways about subtle social cues. The researchers found one year olds expect people to like same foods, unless those people belong to different language. The study underscores just how tightly our food choices are coupled with our social thinking. Kids are sensitive to cultural groups early in life. When babies see someone eat, they are not just learning about food – they are also learning about who eats what with whom. An ability to think about people as being ‘same versus different’ and perhaps even ‘us versus them’ starts very early in life. While monolingual babies expected people who speak different languages to like different foods, bilingual babies expected that people who speak different languages would eat the same foods.

Learn Foreign Languages to Keep Brain Sharp

                Learning foreign languages may sharpen your brain by enhancing its elasticity and ability to code information. The more foreign languages we learn, the more effectively our brain reacts and processes the data accumulated in the course of learning. The neuro-physiological mechanics of language and speech acquisition are underexplored when compared to the brain’s other functions. The reason for such scarce attention is the inability to study verbal function on test animals. Researchers carried out experiments where the brain’s electrical activity was measured with electroencephalography (EEG).

Ten male and 12 female participants, with the average age being 24, took part in the investigation. The subjects had electrodes placed on their heads and then listened to recordings of different words in their native language, as well in foreign languages, both known and completely unknown by the subjects. When the known or unknown words popped up, changes in the brain’s activity were tracked. Researchers focused on the speed at which the brain readjusted its activity to treat unknown words. The ability of the brain to process information depends on one’s “linguistic anamneses,” experts said. The study shows that the brain’s electrical activity was higher among those who knew foreign languages.