BOULDER, Colo. — The next time you hear your baby babbling, it might mean a lot more than just being cute.
Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder now say it’s one of the signs they’re studying that helps indicate future intelligence.
CU Boulder researchers have been studying a unique cohort of twins since 1985, who are now approximately 40 years old. The team has collected extensive data on various developmental aspects, including focus, language skills and play behavior, as young as 1 and 2 year olds.
Daniel Gustafson, an assistant research professor at CU Boulder, explains why this has taught researchers so much.
“When a toy is introduced that the infant has seen before, and then a new toy is presented, we found that infants who spent more time inspecting the new toy tended to score higher on later intelligence tests,” Gustafson said. “This behavior indicates that the infant has a memory of what they’ve seen before, which is linked to cognitive development.”
The research highlights the role a child’s environment plays during early childhood.
Researchers said factors such as reading, exposure to music and participation in sports contribute to cognitive differences observed later in life.
“The shared environment mattered a lot more than we expected,” Gustafson said. “Some of the shared environmental influences that we observed from year one or three and earlier, actually age two and earlier, explained about 10% of the differences that we saw in IQ tests in the adult in the individuals in their adult sample.”
However, researchers emphasize that parents should not feel anxious about these findings.
The study underscores that while the home environment is influential, genetics also play a substantial role in cognitive development.
There is variability within these statistics, and Gustafson said there’s time for families to adjust their routines and experiences and exposures.
The CU Boulder team hopes to extend the research into a lifelong study to explore how these early influences may impact later health issues, including Alzheimer's disease and dementia.
