Learn About Infant Communication

The most common perception of communication in infants is that infants cannot communicate until one year of age. According to this view, babies and adults do not communicate with each other until after the baby is one year old. Nevertheless, new studies have suggested that babies are born with an innate ability to communicate with adults. Some experts refer to this communicative ability as “intersubjectivity”.

It is clear that babies and adults do not engage in dialogue. Rather, they communicate through “protocol conversations.” When babies and their parents react to each other, these reactions are not just instinctive reflexes. Babies recognize experiences and react to them. In short, babies understand that they are interacting with others.

Lack of communication in infants

Some researchers believe that intersubjectivity does not begin until the child is between nine months and one year old. On the other hand, there are many who claim that babies have an innate ability for intersubjective interactions. The difficulty lies in knowing whether the interactions between babies and their caregivers constitute real communication and a connection of subjective experiences.

Those who argue against intersubjectivity in infants believe that babies do not communicate until they are about nine months old. At 14 months of age, babies begin to use “proto-declarations”. In other words, the child points out an object and can, by following an adult’s gaze, confirm that the adult shares his attention to the said object. These proto-declarations serve as proof that infants are capable of deriving intention from other people.

Babies can communicate

As we have said, some researchers believe that intersubjectivity is real, that it is an innate capacity that allows babies to communicate their subjective experiences.

These researchers claim that babies do not need complex cognitive or symbolic systems to communicate. They can use their emotions to do that. According to these ideas, babies are able to exchange experiences with their caregivers.

Although intersubjectivity may seem reasonable from a theoretical perspective, science requires experimental evidence. In this case, it is about proving that the exchange of expressions, feelings, gestures and vocalizations or babbling can be considered as forms of communication. To prove this, a study analyzed the changes in the expressions of children between two and six months and their parents.

What researchers discovered about communication in infants

Researchers found that facial expressions together fell with each other. They also discovered that the intensity of emotions between parents and infants was synchronized. Apart from that, they also noted that babies do not just respond to the mother’s actions. They also make her respond in certain ways.

This suggests that infants have the ability to participate in “conversations”. Other experiments also support this idea in another way. They show that when an adult interacts with a baby and suddenly stops, the baby waits for their reaction. When the adult does not respond, the infant becomes irritated and demands a response. Such results support that protocol conversion is a type of communication.

According to the results, babies perceive attention when an adult looks at them. They also experience emotional motivation when they witness adults making gestures. That is, they feel that the adult is trying to communicate with them. Babies then respond to these attempts in some way. As such, you can say that communication in infants is innate.