Name: Avi

CHILDREN IN WOMB CAN HEAR FROM 20 WEEKS


England's Sunday Times reported yesterday that
new research by Stephen Evans, a psychologist from Keele University,
demonstrates that children in the womb can hear and remember sounds as
early as 20 weeks after conception. Evans was able to show that three
weeks after birth babies could recognize an obscure song played at the
20th week of development by examining kicking patterns.

Previously it had been believed that fetal learning started at 24 weeks but now researchers found that the fetus at 20 weeks had memory and perceptive capacity in the lower part of the brain, the thalamus. Scientists had believed that, because the upper part of the brain -- the cortex -- did not develop until weeks later, the unborn child could not hear.

In the study, researchers played music for unborn children at 20 weeks. Then they tested the response of babies two to three weeks after birth, and observed that their responses indicated they remembered the musical selections, and were soothed by replay.

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