Tongue Out Of Mouth: When Children Have To Concentrate

Some children stick their tongues out of their mouths while concentrating. This is so common that it mostly goes unnoticed. We have all seen children stick their tongues out of their mouths , but why do they do it?

According to experts, children tend to do this at the age of 5-9 years. It is not a mental or general health problem when they stick their tongue out of their mouth. It is obviously a reflex produced between language and motor skills. 

It is a similar mechanism as when we make gestures with our hands or face while talking. Instead of doing this, they stick their tongue out of their mouth.

When children do this, it can be a sign that they are very focused on what they are doing. It’s nice to see them being focused on an activity and there is nothing around them that distracts them. There may be noise, other children playing, music or people talking. But there is nothing that disturbs their concentration.

Why do they stick their tongues out of their mouths when they concentrate?

Researchers have recently begun to show interest in this type of behavior. According to a study, children do, due to the close relationship between the activity centers for language and motor skills. The result of the study showed that it is not just about sticking the tongue out of the mouth, but more about observable patterns.

In order to complete the study, they admitted about 14 children while engaged in various activities. They studied children who were 5 years old and they were all right-handed.

The researchers observed the children while conducting exercises specifically designed for the experiment. The exercises measured different levels of motor skills.

They found that this reflex involves the fine motor skills. But they were surprised when they noticed that the reflex appears more in exercises that require more movement. In other words, the children expressed their concentration by sticking their tongue out a bit.

The researchers were able to observe that the children stuck their tongues out to both sides. They also highlighted how often the children exhibited this, as well as how long they did so.

Children apparently stick their tongues out of their mouths with more frequency when doing activities that require less precision. They do not do so much with activities that involve fine motor skills.

The researchers were able to explain that this behavior is associated with communication. They said that in most cases, they stick their tongue out in the left commisure , which is equivalent to the brain half associated with language.

Now that you know…

We’ll bet you know what we’re talking about. We have all seen children stick their tongues out of their mouths when concentrating, but now we will probably notice it more. It’s such a small move, but now it’s an interesting one too.

Observe your child. Find out by what activities they tend to stick their tongue out of their mouth, and find out how concentrated they are.

According to the studies conducted, it has to do with language. Maybe we’ll see how their brains work. Moreover, it is also an indicator of what they can achieve. It shows us that their abilities are excellent. It is an extremely simple behavior, but science has clarified a number of neurological behaviors that you need to know and investigate.

You may be wondering why this reflex is not seen in adults. Researchers explain that sometimes when we react to something, we realize that we are sticking our tongue out of our mouth. When we begin to perform this reflex, we decide to suppress it for cultural reasons.

We do not want other adults to see us do this. But it is something that can emerge at any time because it is a primitive reflex that is difficult to eliminate completely.