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A baby has a MEG brain-imaging test while listening to spoken words.
Infants as young as 6 months are capable of making predictions based on probability, a higher level of reasoning than is commonly believed possible, researchers have found.
When shown a range of facial expressions, children as young as 7 months cast the longest gaze on the fearful face, similar to adult behavior, which scientists say signals an early sign of emotional processing.
And every parent knows that mimicking a baby's behavior, such as clapping hands, brings the child pleasure.
Imaging technology has confirmed that this kind of play activates the pleasure center in the baby's brain, whereas engaging in a mismatched activity doesn't.
New laboratory technology is enabling scientists to see more clearly what is going on inside a baby's brain and monitor how it interacts with its environment. The findings are helping to shed light on the earliest stages of learning.
"The baby brain is a mystery, waiting to be unpeeled. It's full of secrets waiting to be uncovered," says Patricia Kuhl, co-director of the Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences, at the University of Washington in Seattle. Scientists at the institute are conducting some of the first experiments using magnetoencephalography, or MEG, brain-imaging machines on children. The technology allows researchers to measure magnetic-field changes around the brain while a baby sits under what looks like a beauty-salon hair dryer. Dr. Kuhl says the technology is noninvasive and silent, making it ideal for working with babies.
How infants learn and process language and emotions is important in helping to develop best parenting practices and early education programs, experts say. It also can help in the early diagnosis of learning disabilities
Read more here :Wise Beyond Their Years: What Babies Really Know - WSJ.com
