Babies Can Distingush Different Languages By Sight
Toronto - A new Canadian study suggests that babies can actually recognize different languages by looking at facial expression of the speaker. With no sounds at all, babies have the ability to tell whether a person has changed which language they are speaking, such as English and French.
Babies who grow up in bilingual households can also retain the ability to tell when someone switches a language much faster. The study was done at the University of British Columbia. It is published in the journal Science.
Researchers looked at babies four, six, and eight months old and watched how they reacted to different facial expressions based on languages.
“It (the study) shows us that infants are sensitive to visual properties of spoken language, one more step in putting together a symbolic, multi-modal system of communication,” Dr. Athena Vouloumanos of McGill University’s Department of Psychology said in a statement.
The study concluded that babies can tell between the languages and that the brain is definitely set, especially at a young age, to learn more than one.
Babies who grow up in bilingual households can also retain the ability to tell when someone switches a language much faster. The study was done at the University of British Columbia. It is published in the journal Science.
Researchers looked at babies four, six, and eight months old and watched how they reacted to different facial expressions based on languages.
“It (the study) shows us that infants are sensitive to visual properties of spoken language, one more step in putting together a symbolic, multi-modal system of communication,” Dr. Athena Vouloumanos of McGill University’s Department of Psychology said in a statement.
The study concluded that babies can tell between the languages and that the brain is definitely set, especially at a young age, to learn more than one.
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