Words play an important role in brain development even before little ones begin to speak. Words
influence three-month-old babies more than other sounds, including musical tones.
Alissa Ferry, Susan Hespos and Sandra Waxman from the psychology department at the
Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences released a new in the March/April edition of the Child
Development journal.
Fifty three-month-old babies were divided into two groups. One group was shown pictures of fish
accompanied by words. The second group was shown pictures of fish accompanied by a series
of beeps.
Later, the same babies were shown an image of a new fish plus an image of a dinosaur to
measure how long they they looked at each picture. Babies who had seen the photo along with
words looked longer at the fish image, indicating they that had categorized the fish in their mind.
Susan Hespos, associate professor of psychology, said "for infants as young as three months of
age, words exert a special influence that supports the ability to form a category. These findings
offer the earliest evidence to date for a link between words and object categories."
Previous studies have shown that even 12-month old babies can understand an adult’s complex
thoughts.
It’s believed that babies listen to conversations when they are in utero, and after they are born,
can recognize their parent’s voice.