Summary: A new study has found that prenatal exposure to music leads to changes in baby's brain. In fact, researchers say that your baby forms memories based on what he hears in utero.
By Sharon Mazel | Posted: October 31, 2013
Can an in-utero concerto give your baby a head start in the brain development and memory department? Maybe... at least according to a new study published in the journal PLOS ONE.
Researchers at the University of Helsinki found that playing music to your baby while he's still in your tummy gives your baby a boost in the memory department. For their study, the scientists asked moms-to-be in a "learning group" to play "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" five times per week during the last trimester of their pregnancy. Another group of pregnant women — the "control group" — played no music during their last trimester.
The researchers then played the original melody to the babies right after birth and again when the babies were four months old. They also played a modified melody with some of the notes changed. While the babies were listening to the tune, the researchers measured their brain wave activity.
The researchers found that when the babies in the "learning group" heard the original unaltered tune, their brain activity was much stronger compared to when they heard the modified tune with the different notes. They also had much more brain activity when hearing the unchanged tune compared to the babies of mothers who played no music during the final weeks of pregnancy. This effect was noticed even at the four-month-mark, indicating that the babies had formed long lasting memories in the womb.
The small study didn't look at whether the memories formed lasted beyond four months. These findings also don't tell us whether these early memories do anything to boost baby's smarts (either in the music department or in general intelligence) in the long term. But it is food (or music) for thought.
Since a fetus's ability to hear is well developed by the end of the second trimester, there's no reason not to provide a uterine environment that's rich in music and language: Speak or read to your baby, turn on the Mozart, and bring on the Bach. But do so knowing that while exposing your baby to music in utero is a great way to bond with your baby-to-be, and it may even boost your little one's memory, it won't guarantee a scholarship to Harvard... or to Julliard.
Photo Credit: Flickr
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