• tpyo@lemmy.world
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    14 hours ago

    This got me thinking of what a wild experience that must be for a baby. And what a weird thing “peekaboo” is that we just do to babies and they love it and it’s so fun for both parties

    Is this something that humans have done with their babies forever? Is this a type of oral tradition humans have adopted that transcends cultures?

    I went looking and found this:
    https://uwaterloo.ca/childrens-communication-lab/sites/default/files/uploads/files/fernald.peekaboo_1993.pdf

    It is a really fun read and it seems peekaboo is a game played worldwide with parents and infants

    • anomnom@sh.itjust.works
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      9 hours ago

      Babies forget we were there, but love that we came back, and we get a dopamine hit from the smile they give us. It’s probably an evolutionary ancient game.

      I haven’t read the link above, but do any other animals play like this? I think wolf pups and dogs might do this too, not to mention apes, bears, any probably most other non prey animals. Or animals that raise their young for any significant amount of time.