Newborns recognize their mothers' voices

Newborn babies respond differently when their mother is talking, activating a part of the brain that controls language learning, according to a study by researchers at Université de Montréal and Ste. Justine Hospital.

Maryse Lassonde and her team at U de M and Ste. Justine attached electrodes to the heads of 16 sleeping babies within the first 24 hours after they were born.

What they discovered, in findings published in the journal Cerebral Cortex, was that even tiny infants reacted differently depending on whether the woman speaking was their mother or someone else.

Researchers found that when other women spoke, the section of the brain that controls voice recognition fired up. But it took the sound of the mother’s voice to trigger neurons in the area of the brain responsible for learning language.

Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/life/Newborns+recognize+their+mothers+voices/3990547/story.html#ixzz18TIC6Ivu