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28th March 2025
08:41am GMT
If your child is a big doll-lover, it could be helping them become a better person, according to one study by Cardiff University, conducted in partnership with Mattel.
A team of researchers, using neuroscience, discovered new evidence that doll play can activate brain regions that allow children to develop empathy and social information processing skills.
This is also the case even when playing with dolls alone.
The findings were gathered by monitoring the brain activity of 33 children, both boys and girls, between the ages of four and eight as they played with a range of Barbie dolls.
Researchers found that the posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS) - a region of the brain associated with social information processing such as empathy - was triggered for both genders whilst engaging in solo doll play.
The levels of pSTS activation were found when children played with dolls together.
The study also found that children had lower levels of activation of the pSTS when they played on electronic devices, such as tablets.
Speaking of the results, Dr. Sarah Gerson, who was part of the study that employed the use of neuroimaging technology, said the findings suggest that dolls encourage children to create their own 'imaginary little words'.
"This is a completely new finding. We use this area of the brain when we think about other people, especially when we think about another person’s thoughts or feelings. Dolls encourage them to create their own little imaginary worlds, as opposed to say, problem-solving or building games," Dr Gerson explains.
"They encourage children to think about other people and how they might interact with each other. The fact that we saw the pSTS to be active in our study shows that playing with dolls is helping them rehearse some of the social skills they will need in later life.
"Because this brain region has been shown to play a similar role in supporting empathy and social processing across six continents, these findings are likely to be country agnostic."
