According to a research by the Baby Lab at Cambridge University, infants’ brains are attuned to baby talk and nursery rhymes. Scientists have sought to understand how this happen by scanning the brains of both babies and their mothers. The first results showed that infants learn less when their brain waves are not in sync with those of their mom’s, and that the learning process is more efficient when the two sets of brainwaves are in tune.

The researchers found, as well, that babies learn better when their mothers speak to them using “motherese” (the typical soothing sing-song voice) and that nursery rhymes are a very good way to get in sync with a baby. “Although it sounds odd to us, babies really love listening to motherese even more than adult speech. It holds their attention better and the speech sounds clearer to them. So we know the more motherese the baby hears, the better the language development,” said Dr Victoria Leong, who is leading this research.

Picture: At the Baby Lab in Cambridge (BBC.com)

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