Khaberni - A recent study conducted by researchers at the University of Montreal in Canada has found that a fetus can recognize foreign languages before birth.
The study showed that children's brains react in a similar way to languages they were exposed to in the womb, as they do with the mother tongue after birth.
Study Methodology
According to the citynews website, researchers played audio books in German and other languages to fetuses for five weeks, starting from the 35th week of pregnancy. The study involved 60 French-speaking women only, and their children listened to the stories twice daily for 20 minutes using headphones placed on the mother's abdomen.
After birth, the children were monitored at the Saint Justin University Hospital Center using near-infrared spectroscopy to measure brain activity while listening to different languages.
Main Results
The study showed that children who were exposed to languages during pregnancy demonstrated brain activity similar to that associated with the mother tongue, while unfamiliar languages were processed only as auditory stimuli without engaging language-specific brain areas.
Professor Anne Gallagher, a pediatric neuropsychology scholar and leader of the study, said: "We cannot say they are learning the language, but they can recognize it and process it using brain areas associated with language."
Long-term Effects
Despite these results, the researcher doubted the continuity of early exposure's impact over the long term, noting that the brain is very flexible and will respond to multiple influences over time, and exposure to languages before birth does not necessarily mean ease of learning them later on.
Importance of the Study
This study indicates that the prenatal period plays a role in the development of language networks in the brain, explaining that the flexibility of children's brains allows them to more readily adapt to their environment compared to adults, making language learning in childhood stages easier and more effective.
