Is it true that babies can recognize their mother's voice at birth
Amazingly, babies can recognize their mother's voice even before birth.
Researchers have long known that newborns recognize – and prefer – their mom's voice. And any new mother can tell you that the sound of her voice is a delight to her new baby. Babies also seem soothed by sounds that mimic those they heard in the womb, like whirring fans and washing machines.
For a study published in the Journal of Psychological Science in 2003, Canadian and Chinese researchers took this voice recognition idea one step further.
They recorded pregnant women reading a poem out loud, and then played the recordings to the babies in utero. The heart rate of babies who heard their mom's voice speeded up, while the heart rate of those who heard the tapes of another mom's voice slowed down, showing that the babies did distinguish between the two.
The researchers theorized that the slower heart rates occurred when the babies were trying to "figure out" what they were hearing, and the faster heart rates corresponded to excitement at hearing their mother's voice.
Experts believe that by picking up the cadence of their mother's voice, babies are beginning to learn about language – and their mom – even before birth.
ليست هناك تعليقات:
إرسال تعليق