Researchers suggest that babies may be able to hear differences in language a month before they are born .
Published in the journalNeuroReport , scientists from the University of Kansas used a magnetocardiogram ( MCG ) to study two twelve mothers who were eight months pregnant . This technology can measure out magnetic fields produced by electrical activity in the heart .
A bilingual speaker system was asked to make two recordings , one in English and one in Japanese , to be played in ecological succession to the foetus . These two language are quite rhythmically distinctive .
Using the MCG , the team come up that the heart charge per unit of the foetus increased when they heard the lyric they were unfamiliar with , Japanese . When they get word English , their heart rates did not commute .
" These results paint a picture that language development may indeed start in utero , ” Utako Minai , the lead author on the subject area , said in astatement . “ Fetuses are tuning their ear to the language they are decease to take on even before they are have a bun in the oven , free-base on the language signal uncommitted to them in utero . Pre - natal sensitivity to the rhythmical dimension of linguistic communication may furnish child with one of the very first building blocks in acquiring language . ”
late enquiry has happen that human language development can start just a few days after birth . baby have been shown to be raw to rhythmical differences between languages , by monitoring how they react to different voice communication – like sucking more intently on a peacemaker .
Another previous study looked at foetal language recognition , but it used echography and had two different people speaking the different speech . In that written report , it was not clear if the fetuses were reply to the changed person or the unlike language . By using an MCG , this study was also more sensitive to beat - by - beat change of the heart when compare to ultrasonography .
The sound heard in the womb is unlikely to be vindicated and concise , grant to Minai , but more like a “ Peanuts cartoon ” . However , the rhythm can still be observe and picked out .
" We cogitate it is an super exciting finding for introductory scientific discipline research on language , ” said Minai . “ We can also see the electric potential for this determination to apply to other fields . "
