Last weekend my wife and I had the opportunity to lead a marriage workshop. One of the participating couples brought their 9-month-old son, a beautiful child, bright-eyed and excited to see the world around him. He would smile and try to imitate when someone made “popping sound” with their mouth. He cooed and made sounds in his effort to communicate. Watching him interact with the people present at the workshop reminded me of a study completed by Yale researchers in 2025. The researchers of this study collected brain imaging, clinical and behavioral data, and genetic information from children up to 10-months-old. Reviewing the MRI data, they “assessed the functional connectivity across the brain areas that make up the social perception pathway.” The brain areas assessed included areas dedicated to visual processing and areas specializing in the processing of faces, speech, and gaze. The data revealed that these areas were active “within a couple of weeks after birth.” In other words, babies have active social pathways in the brain “at birth or shortly after birth.”  We are born to connect, designed to interact…even from birth.

As they compared the children and their social progress, they found that the stronger the connectivity in the social perception pathway shortly after birth, the greater attention the baby gave to faces when they were 4 months old. The greater attention they gave to faces at 4 months, the fewer social difficulties they exhibited at 18 months.

To me, this is amazing. We are designed for social connection. Most babies are equipped with the neural pathways that encourage social connection almost immediately after birth. You can tap into that natural strength by engaging your children. Gaze into your baby’s eyes. Interact with them. Talk with them, smile at them, and share eye contact as you do. Let them see the delight in your eyes as you hold them, change their diaper, or play peek-a-boo with them. Connect with your child at every age. After all, we were born to connect, and we are happiest and healthiest when we do.