Played classical music for your unborn? Me, it was way too much NPR. Sure, our relatives might have scoffed, but a new study shows that after 30 weeks, the fetus may actually have memories of the rockin’ out time y’all shared.
Researchers in the Netherlands studied 100 pregnant women and found that prenatally, babies may have short-term memories of sound by 30 weeks. After that, they develop a long-term sound bank.
Here’s how they make their musical claims:
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Researchers tested the fetuses with sounds. Five of the subjects didn’t respond, and were therefore eliminated from further research.
The others were subjected to “vibroacoustic” stimuli repeatedly. Eventually, the subjects got used to the noise and stopped moving from the sounds.
Eventually, researchers reintroduced the stimuli to see if the fetus could “remember” them. According to ABC News:
The study found that by 30 weeks of age, a fetus could “remember” a sound for 10 minutes. By the 34th week a fetus may be able to “remember” the sound for four weeks.
Now…are the fetuses responding to sound because it’s repeated and remembered or because it’s there?
And is my NPR addiction part of the reason my son is such an awesome conversationalist? Maybe. Or maybe he just figures that because Mama listens to so much talk radio, he should fill any void with his little voice.
Source: ABC News
Image: Wikimedia Commons.
My boys ALWAYS reacted to the hairdryer while in the womb, to the point that I could just tell it bothered them so I stopped used the hairdryer. To this day, when I use the hair dryer from time to time, they always make a point of being far awy from me and they are 7 and 6 years old!
Recently I went to see the film The King’s speech. When the King was giving his speech to the nation about England being at war I had what could be identified as a panic attack. It was for real. Within seconds I understood that I was picking up my mothers reactions to this. She was entering her second trimester in 1939.
There have been other times when I picked up strong emotional experiences from my mother that had long lasting effects until they were recognized cognitively .
My birth date is 22/2/40.
Very interesting!