Psychology News
A team of researchers at the University of California, Davis, explored whether babies remember faces. The study is published in the journal Infancy.
The Study
The researchers conducted a series of experiments. 58 infants, 6–9 months old, were seated on their parent’s lap or a high chair and shown pairs of masked and unmasked women’s faces on a computer screen. The infants’ reactions were recorded on camera and assessed.
The Findings
The results revealed that babies remember faces, masked or unmasked. They even form memories of masked faces and recognize these faces when unmasked. The study negates apprehensions about possible developmental harm from widespread face masking during the pandemic.
The authors added: “I think that it should be very reassuring to parents in general. Babies all over the world develop and thrive. As long as they are well cared for and fed and they get love and attention, they thrive. We can get into a mode where we think the way we do things is the best way to do things and that anything different is going to be a problem. And that’s clearly not the case.”
To Know More You May Refer To
DeBolt, M. C., & Oakes, L. M. (2023). The impact of face masks on infants’ learning of faces: An eye tracking study. Infancy : the official journal of the International Society on Infant Studies, 28(1), 71–91. https://doi.org/10.1111/infa.12516
