Sleeping Babies Are Still Learning

By Jody Smith HERWriter

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The old saying "I wasn't born yesterday" apparently insults the intelligence and mental sharpness of newborns. Turns out babies are quick studies. They don't even have to be awake.

In recent experiments, 26 babies that were only a day to two days old were seen to learn fast, even when they're asleep.

" 'It's surprising how quickly they learned — the study took 30 minutes, but I think they actually learned this in half that time,' said researcher William Fifer, a developmental neuroscientist at Columbia University in New York. 'We knew that a baby's job is to be an information gatherer, a data sponge, but I don't think we realized this also happens when they're sound asleep.' "

Researchers reported that the types of brain-wave activity seemed to indicate that the babies' brains were quite active in areas of auditory, motor and visual processing. This data gives a new twist to the saying, "I could do it in my sleep".

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37198227/ns/health-kids_and_parenting

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