Whether or not we intend to enlarge the family, every time we see a baby our face lights up, we can't help it. The most curious thing is that it happens to us both with our own baby and with others.
A group of scientists from the University of Oxford has been interested in this reaction that adults have in the presence of a baby and has discovered that the silly face we put on could have a biological response.
Apparently, it is an instinctive behavior produced in a specific area of the brain that causes what experts call the “Christmas tree” effect, I imagine that because of the lights.
Through an imaging technique called magnetoencephalography, the faces of 13 adults and 13 unknown babies were taught to a group of adults.
Seeing the face of babies unconsciously activated a part of the brain that curiously did not activate so quickly when looking at the face of adults, which suggests that this neurological reaction is related to the feelings of protection that babies wake up.
At the same time, they found that it could be an underlying brain mechanism of postpartum depression, in which this part of the brain could be altered affecting the mother's ability to care for her own baby.
In later investigations they will study the mechanisms that occur in our brain when we see the face of our own baby, which following the line of the “Christmas tree” effect could call it “fireworks” effect.
