Interesting Find – Brain and Language Development of Infants
In my search for more information on brain development and technology, I came across a presentation on February 9, 2008 by Dr. Patricia Kuhl, Co-Director of the Institute of Learning and Brain Sciences at the University of Washington. The one hour presentation is called ““>Childhood Development: Early Learning, the Brain and Society.
Dr. Kuhl gives a brief introduction of the influence of academics, business, and society on understanding brain development and early learning in the United States. She goes on to discuss research results that identify that infants have the ability to differentiate between the sounds of 6000 languages within the first 6 months of age. After 6 months, the brain then starts to hard wire in the native language and sounds that are essential for learning foreign languages begin to drop off.
One of the results that she presented was that infants do not actually learn language from audio or television. They need social interaction in order to learn. “The social brain does improve (certain) cognitive skills such as making executive functions and direction of attention.” She also mentioned research is showing that though learning becomes more challenging as we age, if we use the same principles of early learning with adults, adults will be able to learn in ways that we have not incorporated before. I believe that this supports the philosophy of learning through play and interaction as a personal investment in learning (AKA learning through doing).
Dr. Kuhl also references an article in the New York Times (Nov 26, 2006) by Paul Tough called ‘What It Takes to Make a Student’ which references the ‘No Child Left Behind’ legistation of the Bush administration and the current achievement gaps in education.
Her closing remarks included a very interesting comment: ‘50 years form now we will be judged not by the children that succeed, but rather the children who are left behind.’ A scary thought indeed.
I encourage you to take the time to watch the presentation, but if your time is limited, try the experiment that she does with the audience at 47 minutes on synchronizing sound and visual language. It is very interesting.
Have a wonderful day.
