did you that infants...???

Question

Infants stun scientists with ‘amazing' insights
Babies only look clueless — they know a lot more than you think

Recently, scientists have learned the following:

At a few days old, infants can pick out their native tongue from a foreign one.
At 4 or 5 months, infants can lip read, matching faces on silent videos to "ee" and "ah" sounds.
Infants can recognize the consonants and vowels of all languages on Earth, and they can hear the difference between foreign language sounds that elude most adults.

Infants in their first six months can tell the difference between two monkey faces that an older person would say are identical, and they can match calls that monkeys make with pictures of their faces.
Infants are rhythm experts, capable of differentiating between the beats of their culture and another.

Answer 1

No, I didn't know that.
I am willing to believe it though.

The human brain is a phenominal piece of technology with an incredible ability for unsupervised learning.
We can't even come close to mimicing it with respect to the pinicle of our digital technology.

Answer 2

I'm not surprised at all.

The brain is hardwired for language, pattern recognition, etc. Add to it that an infant's brain grows very rapidly in the first few years of life, it isn't really that astounding at all.

We've been learning just how quickly infants pick up on their surroundings for years now. Sign language is being taught to many infants because it allows them to express more complex communication before their vocal abilities catch up.

Answer 3

If You ever get the chance to work with autistic children take it up. Most people (Yes I include scientists) are amazed at just how much information a child with a disability can process. You have supported a proposition that has been initiated by Nursing staff the World over.

Answer 4

Isn't that incredible? I often wonder if I shouldn't do more to slow the inevitable process of closing down unused neural pathways in my babies. Shouldn't I be speaking to them in foreign languages, and playing a bigger variety of music for them? I often wonder if there isn't more we can do at the the early stages of a baby's development to help them in the future. My husband eagerly reads to them in Hebrew, but I wish we could find out how to better support some of those natural abilities that babies are born with.

EDIT: thumbs up to Ashleigh - my oldest son is autistic.

Answer 5

I always knew babies were smart, this is just the scientific proof :)

Of COURSE they are brilliant. How else can they learn as much as they do - from absolutely no experience in life at ALL to talking, walking, recognizing things, in 2 years or less?!

I wish I could still learn at the rate I did as a baby.

Answer 6

Yes, it is awesome to see how little babies and children grow.
I have 6 kids and my favorite thing was watching them absorb and learn to maneuver in their world.
I also used to work with Developmentally Delayed adults and it was marvelous to see how much knowledge these 'handicapped' people have.
Good luck

Answer 7

Human beings are like little sponges at that age. We will learn and retain information very quickly.

Answer 8

So should George Bush be replaced by AN INFANT ??

Answer 9

Uh . . . cool. Why are we talking about it here?

An aside: I knew the entire alphabet at 18 months, and I was reading fluently by two-and-a-half.

Answer 10

Of course. There is a reason why they are called "little sponges".