A new father read an article in the news describing recent findings on infant brain development: Infants can detect the gaze of others as early as 4 months old! The father wants to encourage this sort of healthy brain development in his young daughter. What advice would be helpful in this situation?
◦ The father should introduce his daughter to as many new people as possible so that she can get practice watching many different types of gazing and looking.
◦ The father should try to incorporate multisensory interactions into playtime with his daughter, so that she will learn how eye gaze relates to the information from her other senses.
◦ The father should work on establishing joint attention with his daughter, by interacting with her while referencing interesting objects or playing with toys.
◦ There isn't much the father can do to directly encourage brain development in this way, but providing a healthy, warm environment is important for brain development more generally.
The Brain and It's Structures
Brain
Dopaminergic Pathways in a Rat Brain
Adjustments of the Infant at Birth
Neurons in a newborn’s brain
Deep brain stimulation