Babies start predicting people's behavior at eight months, says study

Babies can start predicting people’s behavior and what they like as early as eight months old, says a new study.

This goes on to prove that children develop the ability to see the world through someone else’s eyes much earlier than what was previously thought.

Babies, as early as eight months start logging the moves of people around them and are able to make calculated judgement about their preferences and what they might do next.

It was previously believed that babies did not develop the ability to understand and perceive the world from another’s viewpoint until they were around four years old.

Researchers from Cognition & Development Lab at Washington University and the University of Missouri-Columbia discovered that infants look for consistent patterns of behavior and can understand that those around them prefer specific foods, toys or activities based on observing events and actions.

The study went on to state that babies can also take the information, process it and predict what someone might do next.

Lori Markson, associate professor of psychological and brain sciences and director of the Cognition & Development Lab at Washington University said that even before babies can talk they keep a close track of what’s going on in front of them and look for patterns of activity that may suggest preferences.

The study - which she co-authored with Yuyan Luo, an associate professor of psychological sciences at the University of Missouri-Columbia - was published in the journal Infancy.