Annie talks about how babies start learning long before they are born, whereby she discusses the research that babies start recognizing the sound of their mother’s voice while still in the womb. Annie Murphy delivers research from various fields, like anthropology, neuroscience, and psychology, to reveal the analogy behind babies learning while in the womb. Paul also says that babies can remember the sound of the music the mother was listening to while pregnant and even identify the sense of taste of the diet the mother ate while carrying the baby (Streri., 2023). Furthermore, the baby can be able to recognize and respond to the touch of their mama. The lady also talks about the research done by psychologists from the University of Helsinki. It involves mothers reading the “Frog Prince” to their unborn babies and recording a book similar to a group of babies. The research showed that after they could detect the statistics absorbed by the babies, the babies could recognize them.
In addition to this, she stated that prenatal events affect how people respond to postpartum events; this is because research has shown that fetuses are capable of learning information while still in the womb; for instance, they can identify sound they heard while in the womb and even learn how to distinguish languages. The research has also indicated that the physical contact between the mother and the father can influence the baby after birth; for example, mothers who were massaged while pregnant have the possibility of having calm babies without anxiety. Moreover, the emotions of a mother while still pregnant can affect the baby’s behaviour and health; for instance, the babies of mothers who suffer from stress and trauma tend to have various conditions after birth.
Annie says that the information she gave as per research contributes to later development; for instance, babies who get exposure to various languages while in the womb develop good language skills after birth. On the other side, babies who are exposed to more music before being born have got better music skills after being born. Overall, the speaker says that earlier experiences have significantly influenced later development. It is also established that babies, while in the womb, tend to connect with people around them.
The early experiences are impactful to the infants and toddlers in that they can help them develop their cognitive, social-emotional skills and language; for instance, the babies can be in a position to identify the sound of the mother’s voice, understand the facial expressions, and get their essential words. Babies can also pass information to others via gestures and eye contact. Furthermore, early involvement can assistance create the fundamentals for enduring learning and growth (Mosher et al., 2022). Finally, as per this research, the most surprising thing is that babies are born with pre-wired verbal data. Studies showed that babies can recognize their mothers’ sounds and differentiate them from other tongues. Since it is incredible since babies are born without any conscious information of verbal and are shown to it for the original time soon after birth (Breivold et al., 2019), this recommends that the social mind is amazingly influential and proficient in knowledge even before birth.
References
Breivold, K., Hjaelmhult, E., Sjöström‐Strand, A., & Hallström, I. K. (2019). Mothers’ experiences after coming home from the hospital with a moderately to late preterm infant–a qualitative study. Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences, 33(3), 632-640.
Mosher, A., Till, K., Fraser-Thomas, J., & Baker, J. (2022). Revisiting early sport specialization: What is the problem? Sports Health, 14(1), 13–19.
Streri, A., & de Hevia, M. D. (2023). How do human newborns come to understand the multimodal environment? Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 1-16.