Why Do Children Stick Out Their Tongues When They Concentrate?
Some children stick out their tongue when concentrating. It is a common gesture that usually goes unnoticed. We’ve all seen children do this before, but why?
According to experts, it is common for children to do so between the ages of 5 and 9. Sticking out the tongue while concentrating is not a mental or general health problem. Apparently it is a reflex that is a product of language and motor skills.
It is a similar mechanism for how we gesture with our hands or with our face while speaking. Instead of doing so, they stretch out their tongues.
When children extend their tongues, it can be a sign that they are concentrating heavily on what they are doing. It’s nice to see them so focused on an activity and not letting anything around them distract them. It could be noise, other children playing, music or people talking. But nothing disturbs their concentration.
Why do they stick out their tongues when they concentrate?
Researchers have recently begun to take an interest in this type of behavior. According to a study with children who do, it is because of the close relationship between their language and motor activity centers. The results of the study showed that it is not just about sticking out the tongue, but rather about observable patterns.
To conduct the study, they observed about 14 children while doing various activities. They studied children who were 5 years old, and all were right-handed.
The researchers looked at the children as they performed exercises specifically designed for the experiment. The exercises measured different levels of motor skills.
They discovered that the reflex indicates good motor skills. But they were surprised when they noticed that the reflex appears more in exercises that required more movement. In other words, the children expressed their concentration by stretching their tongue a little.
The researchers observed that children stick out their tongues on both sides. They also noted how often the children performed this gesture and how long they did it.
Apparently, children stick out their tongues more often when doing activities that require less precision. They do not do much with activities that require good motor skills.
The researchers explained that the behavior is about communication. They stated that children in most cases protrude the tongue from the right corner of the mouth, which corresponds to the left hemisphere, which is related to language.
Now that you know it….
We assume you know what we’re talking about. We have all seen children sticking out their tongues as they concentrate, but now you may be paying even more attention to it. It’s such an adorable gesture, and now, even an interesting one.
Study your child. Find out what activities they tend to stick their tongue out at and find out how concentrated they are.
According to the studies, it has to do with language. Maybe we’ll see how their brains work. In addition, it is an indicator of what they can do. It shows us that their capacity is good. It is a very basic behavior, but science has revealed a number of neurological behaviors that you can find out more about and study.
You may be wondering why the reflex is not seen in adults? Researchers explain that sometimes when we react to something, we realize that we are stretching our tongues out. When we get an impulse to perform the reflex, we consciously decide to suppress it for cultural reasons.
We do not want other adults to see us do that. However, it is something that can occur at any time, as it is a primitive reflex that is difficult to completely get rid of.
