胎教是真的嗎?
Y:Did you know that infants prefer their mothers’ voices to that of other females? And that they will change their behavior in order to solicit her voice?
D: Sounds reasonable to me.
Y: Ok, but did you know that a fetus can distinguish its mother’s voice from that of other females before it is even born.
D: I’m not sure. How could anyone possible detect that?
Y: By listening to the heart, fetuses at term were played recordings of their mothers reading a poem, as well as recordings of a female stranger reading the same poem. The fetuses’ hearts accelerated when they heard their own mothers’ voices, but actually decelerated when they heard the voice of the female stranger. The recordings lasted two minutes, but the effects on the fetuses’ hearts went on for several minutes beyond the recordings.
D: That’s pretty interesting! But so what?
Y: What is the experience in the womb seems to affect newborn preferences and behavior. Not only that, but fetuses’ recognition of their mothers’ voices proves that fetuses are capable of learning. This all leads scientists to believe that the process of learning language may begin before birth. Perhaps that infants are so quick to pick up on language shouldn’t be surprising. They’ve had some experience with language before they were born. In fact, their speedy grasping of language may not be due to some innate ability hardwired into the brain. And may be due to information the fetus began accumulating in-utero.
Y:你知道嗎?比起其他女性的聲音,胎兒更喜歡自己媽媽的聲音。他們還會為了聽到媽媽的聲音而改變自己的行為。
D:聽起來很有道理。
Y:那你知道嗎?嬰兒在娘胎里,就能分辨自己媽媽和其他女性的聲音了。
D:這個我不確定,但是,這怎么可能?
Y:用心聽。給足月胎兒放自己媽媽讀詩的錄音和陌生阿姨讀同首詩的錄音。當聽到自己媽媽錄音時,胎兒的心跳加速;而事實上,當聽到陌生阿姨的錄音時,胎兒心跳減速。此外,錄音時間只有兩分鐘,但是胎兒心跳對此的反應(yīng)卻遠不止兩分鐘。
D:很有趣!但是那又怎樣?
Y:這說明,胎兒在母體中的生活會影響嬰兒的選擇和行為。另外,胎兒對媽媽聲音的識別還證明胎兒有學(xué)習(xí)的能力。這說明科學(xué)家有理由相信胎教對語言的學(xué)習(xí)有幫助。這也難怪嬰兒學(xué)習(xí)語言那么快了,因為在娘胎里已經(jīng)有語言基礎(chǔ)了。事實上,嬰兒超強的學(xué)習(xí)語言的能力并非歸因于大腦天賦;而正是在母親子宮中累積的信息。
solicit:征求,招攬
utero:子宮