“When does learning begin?” This is a question that was originally raised by science writer Annie Murphy Paul in a TED Talk back in 2013. If you are like most people, you might associate learning with officially getting educated in schools. Nowadays though scientists are suggesting that we go into fetal origins to really start piecing together the answers for this intellectually overwhelming question.
Fetal origins refers to the idea that whatever a developing fetus is exposed to (e.g., psychological, physical, and/or environmental) during the first nine months of its existence has an impact for the rest of its life post-birth. As Paul asserts in an interview she gave on TED radio hour, “We tend to think of the fetus as sealed off in this bubble [the amniotic sac] but they are really here in the world with us.” And there is evidence to back this up!
Babies learn their mothers’ voice before they are born
Scientific studies have shown that babies begin hearing at the onset of the third trimester of pregnancy. In the womb, sounds are transmitted through bone conduction, from the amniotic fluid (the water-like fluid that surrounds the fetus while it develops) into the fetal ear. More recently though, scientific findings have suggested that the sounds that are heard in utero might be helping babies learn their native language.
A study that was published in the journal, Acta Paediatrica in 2013 confirmed that newborns seem to recognize their mothers’ native language in a matter of hours post-delivery. The researchers who collaborated across the USA and Sweden tested a total of 80 neonates approximately 30 hours after they were born to see whether or not they would group native vowels into one category (an ability of a 6-month old). Native and non-native vowels were presented to the newborns using headphones and the babies’ sucking time showed whether they recognized the sounds or not. For this experiment, headphones were placed next to the little ones’ ears while they lied supine in their bassinets and their suck responses were recorded through the computer hooked pacifiers offered to them. 17 computer-generated variations of English and Swedish vowels were randomly presented after each sucking response from the neonates. After the data analysis, the researchers found that newborns in the study were more interested in hearing non-native vowels as opposed to the native ones. How did they arrive to this conclusion? Newborn babies showed this preference by sucking more for foreign sounds compared to the sounds in their mothers’ native language. According to the experimenters, infants can distinguish non-native vowels as distinct from their native counterparts.
The results of the study not only reveal crucial information about the neurological underpinnings of language acquisition but also pave the way for more research in fetal origins. In essence, exposure to maternal sounds in utero might be critical in helping the infant get a taste of the world that is waiting for it.
REFERENCES
- 1. James, K. D. (2010). Fetal Learning: A critical review. Infant and Child Development, 19, 45-54. DOI: 10.1002/icd.653
- 2. Moon, C., Lagercrantz, H., & Kuhl, K. P. (2013). Language experienced in utero affects vowel perception after birth: A two-country study. Acta Paediatrica, 102, 156-160. DOI: 10.1111/apa.12098