Newborns Master Mother Tongue Pre-Birth, Study Suggests 👶 batterycache.com
Fetuses are known to react to their mother's voice during pregnancy. But a groundbreaking study from the Center for Neuroscience at the University of Padua, Italy, hints that babies can start learning their mother tongue before they even take their first breath!
Scientists examined 33 French newborns aged up to five days old using electroencephalography (EEG) tests. They observed the babies' brain activity as they listened to a fairy tale spoken in French, Spanish, English, and brief pauses between languages.
Key Findings 🔎
- Language Preference: The newborns showed a stronger response to their mother tongue, French, even when another person relayed the story, suggesting that language learning begins before birth.
- Processing Time: The babies showed significantly higher brain activity during the pause after a French sentence, implying subconscious processing and deeper consideration of the language.
These findings imply that babies have an inherent sense of rhythm, special sounds, and pitches in their mother tongue, which could aid in easier language learning later on. Talking to your unborn child and playing music during pregnancy are simple yet effective ways to enhance their auditory development, potentially preventing speech development disorders.
Research at the University of Cambridge provides additional insights into human fetal development but does not focus on language acquisition specifically. To better understand the language acquisition process before birth, more targeted studies might be required.
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