Did you know that infants prefer their mothers’ voices to that of other fema

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? Sounds(26)reasonable to me. Ok, but did you know that a fetus(胎儿)can (27)distinguish its mother’s voice from that of other females before it’s even born? I’m not sure I follow that, I mean how could anyone possibly (28)detect that? By listening to the heart. Fetuses at term were played recordings of their mothers reading a(29)poem, as well as recordings of a female stranger reading the same poem. The fetuses’ hearts(30)accelerated when they heard their own mothers’ voices, but(31)actually slowed when they heard the voice of the female stranger. The recordings(32)lasted two minutes, but the effects on the fetuses’ hearts went on for several minutes(33)beyond the recordings. That’s pretty interesting, but so what does that mean?
    The reason is that the experience before birth seems to affect infants’ preferences and behavior. Not only that, but fetuses’ recognition of their mothers’ voices proves that fetuses are capable of learning.(35)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.(36)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 set into the brain.