Newborns don't be able to talk just from hearing sounds. A new study suggests they're lip-readers as well.
It occurs during that magical period when a baby's babbling little by little develops from gibberish into syllables and gradually into that very first "mama" or "dada."
Florida experts discovered that starting around age six months, babies begin shifting from the intent eye gaze of early infancy to mastering mouths each time people talk to them.
"The baby in order to imitate you has to figure out how to shape their lips to make that particular sound they're hearing," explains developmental psychologist David Lewkowicz of Florida Atlantic University, who led the study being published Monday. "It's an incredibly complex process."
Apparently it doesn't take them very long to soak up the movements that match basic sounds. By their first birthdays, toddlers start shifting back to look you in the eye again - unless they hear the unfamiliar sounds of an unfamiliar language. Then, they stick to lip-reading a bit longer.
"It's a pretty intriguing finding," says University of Iowa psychology professor Bob McMurray, who also studies speech development. The babies "know what they need to know about, and they're able to deploy their attention to what's important at that point in development."
The new research seems in this week's issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. It includes more proof that quality face-time with your tot is vital for speech development - more than, say, turning on the latest baby DVD.
It also begs the question of whether babies who turn out to have developmental disorders, including autism, quickly learn how to speak the same way, or if they show differences that just might provide an early warning sign.
Unraveling how babies learn to speak isn't merely a curiosity. Neuroscientists want to know how to encourage that process, especially if it doesn't seem to be happening on time. Plus, it helps them understand how the brain wires itself early in life for learning all kinds of things.
Those coos of early infancy start changing around age six months time, growing into the syllables of the baby's native language until the 1st word comes forth, usually just before age one.
A lot of research has centered on the audio side. That sing-song speech that parents intuitively use? Scientists know the pitch attracts babies' attention, and the rhythm exaggerates key sounds. Other studies have shown that babies who are best at distinguishing between vowel sounds like "ah" and "ee" shortly before their 1st birthday wind up with better vocabularies and pre-reading skills by kindergarten.
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