How Children Learn: Language, Hearing and the Brain

Patricia Kuhl, A. James Hudspeth, The Rockefeller University: Long before they utter intelligible words, babies are absorbing and processing all kinds of information, including the patterns and nuances of adult speech. In fact, careful analysis of infant babblings reveals that 20‐month‐olds can separate the distinct vowel sounds of their native tongue. We know this thanks to the intriguing research of Patricia Kuhl, whose work is showing how the brainʹs development is integrated with the rapid and prodigiou