When Babies Watch TV, They’re Not Tuning Out
From Times Staff and Wire Reports
Babies are not just passing time when they stare at the television -- they are learning about the world, according to researchers at Tufts University.
The researchers showed babies a videotape of actors reacting to objects such as a blue bumpy ball and a yellow garden hose attachment.
When the actors acted positively toward an object, 1-year-old babies happily played with it.
If the actors seemed afraid or disgusted, however, infants would avoid the object, the researchers reported in the journal Child Development.