Dr. Howard Smith Oncall

  Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/_DFUFfgGHsc   If a parent constantly corrects an infant, that child’s brain becomes more sensitive to angry vocalizations.  Investigators at Britain’s University of Manchester studied 40 six month old infants and their mothers utilizing the novel neuroimaging technique of Near Infrared Spectroscopy.  This permits the study of a baby’s brain activation by maternal vocalizations without the noise of MRI.   Infants as young as 6 months can differentiate happy and unhappy vocal rhythms.  The researchers found that those babies whose mothers repeatedly corrected them developed nerve networks that preferentially respond to angry vocalizations.   This study underscores the exquisite sensitivity of infant humans.  Parents need to monitor their own and each other’s interactions with their children and realize how much their behavior imprints their offspring in both negative as well as positive ways.     Good parenting is creating a safe, happy environment for your child by constructing bou