If you would like to talk to your baby while he or she is still in your uterus, the specialists say that you should do so because there is a possibility for the babies to remember the words they frequently hear even before they are born.
The Opinion of the Specialists
The specialists claim that the fact that the babies can remember words suggests that the brain adapts to sounds even during the earliest stages of life. When the babies are born they aren’t like an empty canvas: they can already recognize the sounds and voices they often heard in the womb.
Babies’ Brain
If you come to think of it, it is quite amazing what babies can remember given the fact that their brains aren’t fully developed yet and they still lack the connections that would make it possible for the babies to process the things that are happening around them.
Scientific Evidence
Researchers have found evidence that upon birth babies can remember passages of speech and songs they heard during their fetal period. Finnish researchers have been doing studies using a pseudo-word (a word that has no real meaning). They chose a three syllable pseudo-word that could exist in the language based on the rules of the language.
The Study
33 women took part in the research and half of them had to listen to the word repeated hundreds of times. Sometimes the word was pronounced differently or it had a syllable changed. After the babies were born the researchers studied their brain activities when they heard that given word.
The Results
The babies who heard the word before showed enhanced reaction. This means that they managed to process the word better and to detect the changes of the word. The specialists say that this kind of learning takes place during the later stages of pregnancy, although there are no studies yet to back up this theory.
Conclusions
According to the specialists, the fact that the babies are able to remember the words that they hear means that the process of learning doesn’t begin right after birth as it was believed until now, but much earlier, starting with the second half of the pregnancy.
The parents should remember that their babies are listening to them even before they are born. Although consciously they won’t remember, it is best to talk calmly and nicely while the little one is listening.
