Learning by instinct - at a phenomenal rate

Let me share with you a key discovery we made in recent weeks. New born babies inherited in their genes the wisdom of 2.4M years of human evolution. The brain is born with 100 billion neurons and synapses, grows into 100 trillion neurons and synapses in the first year, with a memory size that matches a super computer. How sad that we don't have a chance to use even 2% of its capacity!

A near perfect learning software has been embeded in the baby' brain. At birth, it is turn on to the auto mode. Learning takes place by instinct, for survival, at a phenomenal speed, to recognize mom and learn from the mom and the same species and from the environment. Memory is recorded with the wiring of synspes in the brain.

Language acquisition takes place effortlessly during this period of instinctive learning. Learning is constrained only by exposure, never by capacity. A baby can learn 50 languages effortlessly, without confusion. The world of languages to a baby in the first 15 months has no words, and has only sounds and rhythms. It is like the favourite Latin American folk songs we recognize, we love to hum, without knowing its meaning. Babies have photographic memory. Wiring of synapses is automatic, without any effort.

By the age of 2 1/2 to 3, self-awareness creeps in. A child becomes shy. She begins to pick and choose what she wants to learn. The embedded learning system in the brain is switched from the auto mode to a manual mode. As far as language learning is concerned, efficiency drops drastically.

The reason why it is so difficult to learn the correct sounds of a new language is because we started too late. We missed the window of opportunity. Beaumont babies who start playing with playgroup teachers from 5 different countries when they are two or three months old can speak all the 5 languages at the level of a native speaker by the age of 2. And they are higher in IQ because of the exposure to songs, games and activities of so many different cultures.

Share the findings with your friends with young babies or who are pregnant so that their babies would not miss out.

Find out more at the
Parenting Seminar –
Developing Personality, IQ & languages, 0 to 5
Tuesday 7-8p.m. &
Saturday 2-3p.m.
5/F Tower One, Admiralty Centre
Tel: 2866 2028