蜜桃影视

We鈥檝e all had the experience of feeling 鈥渋n synch鈥� with another person, and mothers frequently describe feeling a 鈥減sychic connection鈥� with their children. Groundbreaking new research from the University of Washington鈥檚 Institute for Brain and Learning Sciences (I-LABS) indicates that these descriptions are more than handy metaphors.

In an experiment that鈥檚 the first of its kind in the world, I-LABS, in collaboration with Japanese and Taiwanese brain scientists, conducted a study of the neural connection between mothers and their 5-year-old children using dual MEG brain-imaging devices. , or magnetoencephalography, is a safe, silent, precise technique for investigating human brain activity.聽The ultra-high-tech device allows brain activity to be measured millisecond-by-millisecond and maps down to the millimeter where in the brain that activity is produced.

Previous research by I-LABS scientists has shown that verbal turn-taking and imitation are essential in young children鈥檚 language learning and social development, and that their language learning happens only via social interaction with other people. But how parents and children coordinate their brain activity during these social interactions has been an intriguing mystery. With the development of a dual-MEG setup, it has become possible to observe those interactions in real time right where they鈥檙e happening in the brains of mother-child pairs.

鈥淗umans are social creatures, and we evolved to learn from one another,鈥� says Dr. Patricia Kuhl, I-LABS鈥� co-director, who holds the Bezos Family Foundation Endowed Chair in Early Childhood Learning. 鈥淪o now the big question is how our brains do that, how they exchange information and learn and feed off each other. Understanding that is complicated from the experimental standpoint.鈥�

In the article 鈥�,鈥� published this summer in the journal Cerebral Cortex, lead author Jo-Fu Lotus Lin, a researcher from National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan with an appointment at Japan鈥檚 Kanazawa University, details the history of testing two interactive individuals simultaneously. During the last 15 years or so, simultaneous recordings of brain activity have been observed using less precise measuring techniques. The advent of MEG has made it possible to precisely pinpoint the regions of the brain that light up during interpersonal interactions. (Until recently, the MEG lab in Japan has been the only one in the world with two MEG machines; I-LABS has now become the only lab in the world with two MEG machines, one of which is a 鈥渨earable鈥� MEG machine, which Kuhl says will open whole new worlds of social neuroscience research.)

For the dual-MEG mother-child study, Kuhl says, each pair of mothers and their 5-year-olds lay next to each other in their respective MEG machines. The mothers then read a phrase and the child imitated the intonation and words of that phrase. As a control, mother and child listened passively to pure tones.

鈥淲ith the MEG machines, we鈥檙e able to see what鈥檚 happening in the mother鈥檚 brain and the child鈥檚 brain during the social interaction,鈥� Kuhl says, 鈥渁nd what we see is neurons firing in areas of the brain related to attention and learning at the same rate in mother and child. The neurons are doing a dance together at the same rhythm at the same time in the same places in these two brains.鈥�

It was a moment of amazement for the researchers, Kuhl says.

Although the study was admittedly 鈥減retty cool,鈥� Kuhl says the research is just getting started. Now that I-LABS has the wearable MEG as well as the traditional one, the plan is to study parents and 5 陆 month-old babies. Fathers will be part of the study for the first time, she says, and researchers will measure the social interaction of mom with the baby and then dad and baby when they are interacting face-to-face.

Another exciting layer to the experiment will be to test the parents鈥� natural levels of oxytocin before and after the social interaction to see if adults who have more oxytocin have more neural synchrony with their child. Oxytocin has sometimes been called the 鈥渓ove hormone鈥� because of the role it plays in social bonding.

The wearable MEG will allow the parent to interact with the baby in more normal face-to-face interaction. The parent will engage with the child and then turn away to engage with someone outside the child鈥檚 periphery to see what happens to that neural synchrony when the parent鈥檚 attention temporarily turns in a different direction.

What the study won鈥檛 do is have the parents completely ignore the baby and focus entirely on their cellphones. The researchers had considered doing such a study but stopped it before it really got under way.

鈥淩ight before the pandemic, we were setting one up with the mom moving her attention completely from the baby to focus entirely on the cellphone,鈥� Kuhl says. 鈥淚t upset the babies so much we said, 鈥楴ope. Can鈥檛 run that experiment.鈥� The one we鈥檙e setting up now 鈥� where the mother rotates to another person 鈥� happens all the time in the real world and the baby will try to get her attention back. The phone thing really tended to upset the babies.鈥�

One of the long-term goals of the newest research is to see whether the social connection represented by neural synchrony predicts other positive outcomes in a child鈥檚 life, such as mother-infant attachment.

鈥淚 think we鈥檒l see that it affects the learning of language,鈥� Kuhl says. 鈥淚 think we鈥檒l see that social interaction is the seat of language鈥攚hich is a fairly radical view. I think social interaction is the instigator, and connections between adults and infants precede and predict rapid language learning because language is so necessarily social. What comes first is this attraction between parent and child, this intense attention being paid where the baby is glued to their faces and voices and that input changes their brain.鈥�

In the dual-MEG study, Japanese researchers had the mothers and their 5-year-olds playing an imitation game, in which the mother would change the pitch of her voice and the child would try to mimic it. The role of neural synchrony prompted by imitation is an important one in human evolution, Kuhl says, and the tangible evidence of that dance is thrilling.

鈥淭hat initial connection is how babies know that they鈥檙e one of us, that they have bodies like us and that they belong,鈥� she says. 鈥淚f you raise your finger and the baby imitates that or open your mouth and the baby does that back to you, that鈥檚 the baby relating to members of the group and saying, 鈥業鈥檓 like you.鈥� That鈥檚 a very critical connection.鈥�

Our society has given short shrift to social needs and the degree to which social interaction influences learning. Kuhl鈥檚 hope is that the research she and others are doing on brain synchrony will help put to rest the idea that social connection is 鈥渏ust soft and fuzzy.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 not just playing. It鈥檚 not being nice or just giving hugs,鈥� she says. 鈥淪ocial connection is a conduit for knowledge 鈥� all of our cognitive, linguistic and social development, all our cultural institutions come through the social brain.

鈥淭here鈥檚 so much more to know 鈥� about that neural synchrony in other relationships, for instance. If you have a teacher relating to a group of students and for some there鈥檚 that 鈥楢ha!鈥� moment where they say, 鈥極h, I get it. Chemistry works like this鈥�,鈥� maybe that鈥檚 the same sort of synchrony. Maybe it鈥檚 quite common鈥攎aybe between husband and wife or two students working on a project together.

鈥淲ith the new MEG technology, this is a field of work that鈥檚 only going to grow,鈥� Kuhl says. 鈥淲e鈥檙e just beginning to chip away at the magic that might be happening when we鈥檙e in face to face contact.鈥�

This story originally published on Early Learning Nation and is now archived on 蜜桃影视. Learn more here.