Newborn babies absorb knowledge even when they are fast asleep, according to the results of a new studies.
“We found a basic form of learning in sleeping newborns, a type of learning that may not be seen in sleeping adults,” said Dana Byrd, a research affiliate in psychology at who worked on the project.
To test the theory, the researchers played repeating tones while 26 babies just one or two days old were sleeping. They gently puffed their eyelids with air after the sound. Within 20 minutes, 24 of the babies learned to squeeze their eyelids together when they recognized the tones.
The findings have important implications for identifying developmental disorders like dyslexia and autism, they say.