{
  "id": 10983489,
  "title": "A father’s scent helps babies synchronize their brains with new adults",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/30/a-fathers-scent-helps-babies-synchronize-their-brains-with-new-adults",
  "topic": "health",
  "section": "Health & Medicine",
  "published": "2026-09-30T16:00:37.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "PsyPost",
    "slug": "psypost",
    "url": "https://www.psypost.org/a-father-s-scent-helps-babies-synchronize-their-brains-with-new-adults/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "New research published in Science Advances suggests that a father's scent may help infants synchronize their brain waves with unfamiliar adults. This synchronization could foster stronger neural connections, enabling infants to better adapt to their social environment. The study, led by Yaara Endevelt-Shapira, Linoy Schwartz, and Ruth Feldman, involved 40 infants aged five to twelve months and their biological fathers. The fathers wore cotton t-shirts for two nights, avoiding scented products and certain foods, to collect their body odor. In a controlled lab setting, the infants interacted with their fathers and an unfamiliar male experimenter for three minutes, both with and without the father's scent nearby. The infants demonstrated higher interbrain synchrony with their fathers compared to the stranger. This synchronization occurred in the alpha frequency band, linked to attention regulation, working memory, and visual processing. The father's scent enhanced the infant's neural coupling with the stranger, mirroring the connection seen with their biological father. Interestingly, when the father's scent was present, the infants showed more positive arousal through smiling, laughing, and cooing, though overall engagement varied. Infants whose fathers were more involved in daily caregiving exhibited a greater increase in neural synchrony. While the study provides intriguing insights into the role of paternal scent in infant social development, researchers note that the effect might be more general human scent rather than a specific father's odor. Further studies focusing on a narrower age range could provide more clarity on the maturation of this brain rhythm during the first year of life.",
  "summary": "The scent of a father can help infants synchronize their brain activity with unfamiliar adults. A recent study reveals that paternal body odor boosts positive arousal and neural coupling, helping babies expand their social connections.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}