Changing a Child’s Brain at a Cellular Level Through Conversation

Interacting with Babies Can Shape Their Growing Brains, Study Shows

Speech Exposure Enhances Brain Development

A new study shows that interacting with babies can help shape the structure of their growing brains.

A study by researchers at the University of East Anglia in the UK found that young children who regularly hear more speech have more efficient neurons.

Myelin Plays a Role in Brain Development

Specifically, brain scans have shown that speech processing areas have a higher concentration of myelin (myelin)—the insulating sheath that surrounds nerve cells and allows them to send messages faster and more efficiently. It’s not known if this extra mile actually affects a 2-and-a-half-year-old’s language skills, but researchers suspect it could have important benefits.

They say that wrapping myelin around a nerve cell is like putting duct tape on a tube with holes. This helps the neuron get more of its signal from point A to point B, which strengthens its connection with other neurons.

The Importance of Talking to Your Child

John Spencer, a cognitive psychologist at the University of East Anglia, says: “While much remains to be learned about these processes, the message for caregivers is clear: talk to your child. literally shape their brains.”

Complex Implications of Child Brain Development

This message is simple, but it has some complex implications. Over the course of the study, more conversations did not always lead to more efficient neurons in children’s brains.

Research Methods

The researchers had more than 140 infants and children wear the recording devices for three days. In the thousands of hours of collected audio recordings, the researchers were able to hear what children hear every day.

The team then selected just over half of these children to have MRI scans while they sleep.

Brain Development Naturally Goes Through Stages

In infants at six months of age, a daily increase in language activity was associated with a decrease in myelination, the opposite of what was found in children two years older.

It was unexpected, but as Spencer explains, the development of a child’s brain naturally goes through stages. Sometimes his brain is busy creating new cells, and sometimes improving the cells he has already built.

The Importance of Conversation at Different Stages

And in the first few years of life, exponential brain growth seems to take the lead. By the age of two, a person has already gained 80% of the size of an adult brain.

For example, at six months, hearing more speech can delay myelination and promote brain development instead. For now, this is just speculation.

Language Exposure is Important for Brain Development

Saloni Krishnan, a developmental cognitive neuroscientist not involved in the study, told the Guardian that more research is needed to understand myelin’s role in learning.

“It is not yet clear whether myelination in these areas is beneficial for future language or cognitive development, or if it is a stable pattern throughout childhood,” he says.

However, many studies have shown that language exposure is important for a child’s speech processing, vocabulary, grammar, and verbal reasoning. However, how these skills translate into processes in the brain remains largely unknown.

And just a few hours after birth, babies’ brains show signs that they are already learning the sounds of language. Baby talk is associated with improved language skills over the long term.

Conclusion

What’s more, previous research has shown that children between the ages of four and six who talk more to adults also show better education in areas of the brain associated with speech.

More research is needed to understand how these structural changes affect language learning.

But for now, it’s wise to remember this: Children absorb what you say more than you think.

The study was published in The Journal of neuroscience. of Neurology.

Source: Science Alert

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