Why story and play time really matter

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• Embargo date: October 12, 2026 12:00 PM CT
• Release Date: October 6, 2026

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Norton called the research a "paradigm shift" in studying brains in the "real world," not just in artificial lab environments.

Most neuroscience studies of child development take place under highly controlled laboratory conditions, with children viewing single static images on a screen, hearing sounds or performing structured tasks while researchers measure brain responses.

To better understand how children's brains work during everyday experiences, Norton and her research team developed the "Social EEG paradigm," which enabled the recording of brain activity during natural parent-child interactions.

The study included 49 toddlers between 24 and 44 months of age with a range of language abilities and with and without autism. Along with their caregivers, the children wore stretchy fabric EEG caps that measured the brain's natural electrical activity from the scalp. Parents and children participated in familiar activities such as reading interactive books and solving puzzles together. Researchers also recorded brain activity while the children watched movies alongside their parent.

Norton and collaborators, including Brittany Manning, research assistant professor at Feinberg, reviewed recordings frame by frame to identify moments when parents and children were socially engaged with one another and compared those moments to times when the child's attention was focused on the movie.

The study investigated two of the most researched brain activity patterns. Researchers looked closely at alpha brain waves which, when lower, are often associated with being in an awake state and paying attention. They also focused on theta brain waves, which when higher, are associated with a person being socially engaged or socially attentive.

"Toddlers consistently displayed lower alpha brain activity and higher theta brain activity during those moments of parent-child engagement, compared to just watching a movie," Manning said. "Even when children look like they are very engaged with a movie, the study's findings show it's really these moments of quality interaction with the caregiver that the children are most engaged."

Similar patterns across children with and without autism

Norton says one of the study's most surprising findings was that the same brain patterns emerged across a variety of children, including those with varying language abilities and children diagnosed with autism.

"In our study, autistic children and children with a language delay showed many instances of social engagement with their parent," Norton said. "While that engagement was less frequent than typically developing children, their brains were just as engaged as their peers."

Next step

The current study focused on children's brain activity, but researchers also collected EEG data from parents during the interactions. The team is now examining whether parents' and children's brains become synchronized during moments of engagement and whether that neural synchrony is linked to language and mental health development and might help identify which children would benefit from early support and intervention.

The study titled "Toddler EEG Power Reflects Behavioral Social Engagement State During Naturalistic Parent-Child Interaction" was funded by NIH grants R01DC016273 (E.N. and L.W.), R01MH107652 (L.W.), R21DC017210 (E.N.), and R01DC014709 (M.R.). B.M. was supported by T32MH126368. Northwestern faculty Megan Y. Roberts is also an author.