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Babies recognise spoken nursery rhymes they heard in the uterus

Previous research suggests that babies can recognise nursery rhymes that were sung to them while they were in the uterus. Now, scientists have found they also seem to remember nursery rhymes that are spoken with no tune  

By Moheb Costandi

2 April 2024

Growing evidence suggests language learning begins before we are born

Shutterstock/Natalia Deriabina

Two-week-old babies seem able to distinguish the rhythm and other sounds of a nursery rhyme they heard in the uterus from an unfamiliar one. The extent to which they can do this appears to predict their language development, which could open up a new way of identifying babies at risk of language-related conditions in later life.

Language learning is thought to begin before birth, with research showing newborns can and can tell their based…

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