Can an infant pick up on your level of effort while you complete a task? It turns out that 15-month-olds are not only able to recognize persistence, but their behavior can also be influenced by observing persistence. In a recent study, researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology had infants watch adults either quickly complete a task, such as removing a toy from a container, or struggle to complete this task. The infants then where given a toy that seemed like it could be turned on with a button, but was actually disabled by the researchers. The study found that the group of infants whom had previously witnessed an adult have difficulty with a task pressed the button more times in effort to turn on the toy. Just by seeing an adult work hard, infants can emulate that same grit in their own behavior. Researcher, Julia Leonard, suggests that instead of parents being pressured to make everything look easy in front of their children, showing hard work may positively impact children. The ways in which we model perseverance around infants and children is especially significant because persistence, even over IQ, is a strong predicting factor of future academic success.