Baby
Your Brilliant Baby in Week 14: Understanding Cause and Effect
What your infant learns this week
By Baby's fourteenth week, she is beginning to understand cause and effect—that is, that kicking her mobile or yelping for Mommy makes things happen. Baby is learning what she can do—find out more!
Baby's Brain in Week 14
By now, Baby may have graduated to short periods of contentment without you, giving you time to answer an email or fold a load of laundry while she coos in her crib. Sometime soon, take a moment to observe your baby from across the room. You might notice that she can kick her legs in order to whap! the mobile overhead. This action is the first sign of Baby learning cause and effect: "I can move my body to make the mobile dance. This is exciting!"
What the Research Shows
Researchers realized that at about three months, babies will wiggle their feet to make a mobile move about overhead. Of course, the babies were not aware that one end of a ribbon was attached to their feet and the other to the mobile. It delighted the babies in the study to know that they could control their environment in this fashion; that their physical skills—kicking—would bring about the object's movement.
Then the researchers removed the ribbon. The babies—not understanding the use of the ribbon—became frustrated because they expected the mobile to move again. Not to be denied, the babies then attempted to smile at the mobile, perhaps thinking, "Well, since my physical skills didn't make it move, I'll try using my social skills. Those have worked on Mom before."
Of course, smiling at the mobile never budged it, but the babies' attempts at smiling did demonstrate something important: By around three months, babies are aware that the effect of some of their actions—whether smiling or kicking—bring about predictable responses in their environments. They just don't know which cause physical events to occur and which bring about reciprocated social interactions.
Related Links
- Article: Your Brilliant Baby in Week 1: Looking for You
- Slideshow: Decode Baby's Cries
- Quiz: Do You Know Your Child's Social & Emotional Development Milestones?
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