Picture a mother nursing her newborn. Although his vision is blurry, scientists believe an infant has a dedicated neural network to perceive his mother’s eyes eight to 12 inches away. Intriguingly, this is the same distance from the mother’s eyes to her breast. This remarkable design allows the mother to connect with her newborn instinctively through their shared gaze.
“Eye contact is so vital to well-being,” wrote Dr. Martha Welch, founding director emeritus of the Nurture Science Program at Columbia University. “We’re programmed to do it from birth.”
