How babies learn

When babies are born, almost everything they encounter is new to them.

Therefore, they are constantly learning with every process, exposure and interaction.

Even before birth, the parts of their brains that process sound begin to function by 7 months of gestation. At birth, they are therefore able to recognise sounds that they never heard in utero.

At just about two days of age, they begin to process language using skills that adults also use.

According to a study of 6-month-old infants, it was observed that babies needed to move their tongues to distinguish sounds. When pacifiers prevent babies from moving their tongues, it was discovered that these babies were unable to distinguish between some sounds.

Researchers discovered that when babies watch an adult use a specific part of their body, the brain of the child lights up in the areas that correspond with that particular movement.

This study among 14-month-old infants revealed that watching an adult touch an object of interest with her hand or foot activated the same regions in the infants’ brains associated with moving a hand or a foot. 

This is how babies learn to imitate adults and make the same movements themselves. Eg: clapping hands or waving goodbye by age one.

Infants also relate touch to the words they hear. Thus, every time adults use particular words when interacting with them, and accompany those words with touch in specific areas of their bodies, they tend to easily grasp the meaning.

For instance, an infant can become so accustomed to experiencing a warm touch on the cheeks whenever mummy says ‘hello’. They associate the word with that feeling of warmth on the cheek whenever they hear it.

It has been discovered that babies also learn better through interactions with people than through video or audio recordings. There is a significant brain response during social interactions and this enables babies to acquire language easier than when sitting and merely staring at a screen.

To babies, the language sounds like music (repetitive and rhythmic). For a while, they are unable to distinguish between music and language. Therefore, they are capable of learning music early.

Their sensitivity to musical structures and tones helps them communicate better when interactions involve singing to them.

Around 18 months old, babies develop a sense of humour. Babies who like to laugh can easily learn new tasks.

This was demonstrated by researchers who engaged 53 babies. Their task was to retrieve a toy duck with the help of a rake made of cardboard.

Nearly all the babies who laughed during the researcher’s demonstration did better at performing the task than the others.

Babies love surprises. They tend to look away when they see the same old scenes. They pay more attention when faced with new situations and tend to learn more about the world this way. Predictable situations soon become boring, and they seek new exposures.

Infants also learn to make predictions based on their experiences very early in life. The part of their brain that responds to what they see also responds to just the expectation of seeing something.

For instance, a group of babies were shown a pattern of images and sounds— a rattle followed by a red smiley face. When the researchers stopped showing the smiley face but played the sounds, the babies still showed activity in the part of the brain that receives information for sight.

Babies also learn the smell and flavours of food that mothers eat while in the womb before they are born. Therefore, feeding after 6 months is easier when children are introduced to the same foods the mother ate during pregnancy and in the first 6 months of life.