Babies smile to ‘make you happy’ claim scientists

SAM WEBB: A toddler-like robot has helped experts further their understanding that babies smile in order to get the same response.

Furthermore, with the skill of a seasoned comedian, they time their smiles wisely, to maximise their audience’s response.

And what is most surprising is that babies achieve this effect while smiling as seldom as possible.

Javier Movellan, a research scientist in the Machine Perception Laboratory at the University of California, San Diego, said: “If you’ve ever interacted with babies, you suspect that they’re up to something when they’re smiling.

“They’re not just smiling randomly, but proving this is difficult.”

A toddler-like robot has helped scientists further their understanding that babies smile in order to get the same response.A toddler-like robot has helped scientists further their understanding that babies smile in order to get the same response.

Researchers used data from a previous study that observed the face to face interactions of 13 pairs of mothers and infants under the age of four months, including when and how often the mothers and babies smiled

After analysing their data, the team found that 11 out of the 13 babies in the study showed clear signs of intentional smiling.

Scientists then programmed a robot to behave like the babies they studied and had the robot interact with 32 undergraduate students.

The robot, called Diego San, interacted with the students individually during three-minute sessions where it displayed one of four different behaviours.

In one example, the robot was programmed to smile back every time the undergraduates smiled.

The team observed that when Diego San behaved like the babies in the study, the undergraduate students behaved like the babies’ mothers and smiled a lot even while the robot didn’t have to smile that much.

After analysing the robot the team made the same conclusion as they had with the babies, the robot got the undergraduates to smile as much as possible, while smiling as little as possible.

Sandi Ford / Media Drum WorldHAPPY British babies could not get any cuter. Pictures show how as we move into springtime newborn babies as young as just ten days old respond with smiles and giggles to melt the hardest of heartsCute: 11 out of the 13 babies in the study showed clear signs of intentional smiling. File picture

Author Professor Paul Ruvolo, from the University of California San Diego, said: “We thought either the babies had no goal or it was about mutual smiling.

“We are not claiming that a particular cognitive mechanism, for instance conscious deliberation, is responsible for the observed behaviors.

“Our methods are agnostic to this question.”

Author and research scientist Javier Movellan, also from San Diego, said: “Even though the sample size was small, the findings were statistically strong.

“The control theory data analysis found that 11 out of the 13 babies in the study showed clear signs of intentional smiling.”

Researchers say the new findings could pave the way for a better understanding of non-verbal children and adults, such as those with autism.

Author Dan Messinger, from the University of Miami, said: “What makes our study unique is that previous approaches to studying infant-parent interaction essentially describe patterns.

“But we couldn’t say what the mother or infant is trying to obtain in the interaction.

“Here we find that infants have their own goals in the interaction, even before four months of age.”

The research will be presented at the Contextual Robotics Forum in October.