Infant directed speech and frontal lobe

Saito et al.1 showed, by means of a two channel NIRS, a differential response of the neonatal brain to maternal Infant Directed Speech (IDS), in comparison to Adult Directed Speech (ADS). Their study is very interesting. They hypothesize that a newborn is able to distinguish between different emotional communications in the first days of life. These results reignite the discussion on early predisposition for newborns’ recognition of their mothers, and on how early relational skills in newborns correlate with fetal learning abilities in the intrauterine environment.