The Baby Blog

Anyone who interacts with a young infant may find themselves wondering - what is going on inside their mind? In many ways, a baby’s behaviour is limited. They can’t yet control their movements, communicate with language, or provide the types of behavioural cues we...

In the 1990s, a wave of research changed how parents thought about early childhood. Developmental scientists demonstrated that early experience is critical for brain development and that enriched environments support children’s cognitive growth (Ramey & Ramey,...

The gap between what caregivers find aesthetically pleasing and what is ‘fun’ and ‘interesting’ for babies has been repeatedly debated within the public consciousness. Often referred to as ‘sad beige baby’, a new trend has seen monocolour, muted tones favoured by...

Caregivers of young children are very familiar with their pediatrician taking their child’s height and weight and tracking how their child’s growth compares to other children of the same age. These kinds of physical growth charts have transformed public health and...

When it comes to babies’ social worlds, one size does not fit all. Even within the first year of life, infants differ in how their brains respond to social information, such as facial expressions, eye contact and speech. Rather than all babies attending to social cues...

On visits to my mother’s house, it is inevitable that we look through baby pictures, a tradition that has grown increasingly common since I began my research into memory development. I know the stories behind many of these pictures, mostly through my mother. This past...

The COVID-19 pandemic impacted many aspects of daily life, as governments issued shelter-in-place orders that mandated social distancing. These mandates led to changes that included the closing of schools, daycares, and businesses, causing major increases in remote...

Faces play a crucial role in human interaction. They are among the most captivating and salient stimuli, essential to set the foundation for social connection and information sharing. It therefore doesn’t seem so implausible that the ability to discriminate faces from...

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the most prevalent neurodevelopmental condition, affecting ~8% of children in the U.S.1 With an average age of diagnosis of approximately 7 years, by the time it’s typically detected, intervention can already be a...

The formation of neural circuitry is an astonishing feat. Within a matter of months, two individual cells transform into a fully functioning nervous system. By adulthood, a single cubic millimeter of human brain tissue, roughly the size of a sharpened pencil tip,...

By Catia M. Oliveira1, Amy Atkinson2, Michelle St Clair3, Gareth Gaskell1, Lisa Henderson1 1 University of York, 2 University of Lancaster, 3 University of Bath   Humans spend a large portion of their lives asleep. Whilst this unconscious state leaves us more...

Understanding and nurturing parenting as the place where development happens Vision: […] But before I go, I feel I must know. What am I? Wanda Maximoff: […] You are a body of wires and blood and bone […] You are my sadness and my hope. And mostly you're my love....

Raising children during a time of climate crisis can pose many challenges for parents as well as professionals who work with them. Surveys show that most people are now aware of, and alarmed by, the impacts of climate change on the physical environment (Edelman,...

The formative years of a child’s life, from birth to age five, are pivotal for language development. During this crucial period, children rapidly acquire sounds, words, and communication skills essential for school readiness and future success. Central to this process...

by Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, University of Delaware (USA) & Natalia Kucirkova, University of Stavanger (Norway) In 1971, Michael S. Hart digitized the U.S. Declaration of Independence, making it the first e-book in the world. When e-books for children began to...

by Natasha J. Cabrera, Ph.D. & Pinar Karan, MA. In 2018, my colleagues and I wrote an article emphasizing the non-contested fact that fathers are parents too, and that research on parents should intentionally include them (Cabrera, Volling, & Barr, 2018). We...

by Vanessa LoBue January 23, 2024 will mark the 8th Annual Maternal Health Awareness Day—the one day a year we come together to raise awareness about the country’s maternal morbidity crisis and how we can improve physical and mental health outcomes for mothers. This...

Drew H. Abney University of Georgia For many decades, some developmental scientists have used the framework of dynamic systems to guide theory and prediction about how human infants change while embedded in a complex, social world. A dynamic systems framework has...

by Rachel H. Farr, PhD As LGBTQ+ parenthood (via varied pathways) increases worldwide, parents and providers benefit from information about parenthood and early child development1,2,3,4,5: What can LGBTQ+ parents and their partners expect during the transition to...

by Tracey Estriplet-Adams   Being a mother can be both incredibly rewarding and highly demanding. It is a stressful job, and it often leaves mothers feeling overwhelmed and anxious. With such pressure comes the need to consider how the environment in which...

by Rujuta B. Wilson, MD, MS   As a behavioral child neurologist and clinician-scientist, I witness daily the dynamic growth of infant motor skills in the first year of life. The development of motor skills allows an infant to build social and environmental...

by Vanessa LoBue   This month, Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences is featuring a special issue highlighting the work of some of our very own ICIS rising stars, each of which has provided a brief review on an important issue regarding infant...