Babies Just Want to Be Smiled at

Ever try to get a baby to smile? It can seem close to impossible—and then suddenly there it is: that elusive[难懂的；易忘的；逃避的；难捉摸的], seemingly joyous[=joyful] grin[露齿笑]. Well it turns out those smiles aren’t spontaneous[自发的；自然的；无意识的]—they’re strategic[巧妙的;有策略的].

Researchers have found that when babies smile, it's for a reason. They want whoever they’re interacting with[与之互动]—typically a parent—to smile back. And they time it just so, a smile here and a smile there. The researchers call it sophisticated[复杂的] timing. The study is in the journal PLoS ONE.

The researchers enlisted[征募] real mothers and infants[婴儿] and quantified[量化的] their interactions, which fell into four categories. One: babies wanted to maximize the amount of time smiling at their mothers. Two: they wanted to maximize the time the mothers smiled at them. Three: they wanted to experience simultaneous[同时的] smiling, and four: no smiling at all.

By studying when smiles happened and what the subsequent[后来的，随后的] effect was, the investigators were able to figure out that for mothers the goal 70 percent of the time was to be smiling simultaneously[同时地]—while for babies 80 percent of the time they just wanted their mother smiling at them. So, mothers want the interaction, while babies just want to be smiled at.

So your baby may not be able to feed itself, talk or even turn over yet. But when it comes to smiles, babies seem to know exactly what they're up to.

From 60-Second Science