User:Emxinhemdung1minhvanxinh/Prenatal Development

Prenatal Development refers to a child's development during the period of formation inside mother's womb.

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Pregnant women are usually advised to play music to babies in wombs beginning in the second trimester of pregnancy. But have you wondered how this contributes to the development of the fetal brain?

This article seeks from past research to find evidence regarding how music/ sounds can have an effect on fetal brain development.

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Studies and research have shown that starting at week 25 of pregnancy, the fetal brain has the ability to respond and react to different sounds. This could range from the waves of 250 to 500 Hz tones, gradually increasing to 1000-3000 Hz tones by the middle of the 7th month. The different movements fetuses make in the womb have an effect on their heart rate. The average range for a fetal heart rate goes from 110 to 160 bpm. As fetuses react to different sounds, their heart rate is more likely to slightly increase along with movement, an increase of up to 25 bpm. Kisilevsky - a Nursing professor at Queen's University in Kingston has conducted a study that assesses how a fetus’ response to different sounds of a wide variety of tones and intensities change as they grow in the uterus. It was concluded that at around 33 weeks, they start showing a change in responses to different sounds and their complexity. More and more studies have been conducted around the world in regards to how infants interact with music. One of them has seen that preterm babies or term born neonatal babies respond to the musical rhythms by synchronizing with their mouth sucking, tongue movements or even breathing activities.

What’s more compelling is that there’s evidence showing that some newborns may react differently to sounds than others, further suggesting that those who were exposed to music during their last trimester seem to be responding better to the musical rhythms than those who were less exposed.

These studies have been confirmed by multiple neurological technologies: Magnetoencephalography (MEG) technology: using magnetometers to detect brain activity by sensing the electrical currents that naturally emit from brain areas that are actively functioning. The technique is extremely useful in figuring out brain activities and their association with different areas of the brain; heavily used by researchers for those from 27 to 40 gestational weeks. One breakthrough finding is that from 33 weeks on, even for those born prematurely, there’s significant development in the biochemical pathways of the olivocochlear signals.

As far as newborns, EEG was used in the studies. This is another neuroimaging technique that specifically attaches electrodes with small metal discs onto the infant’s brain which can then record its brain waves. Music was used as a stimuli in these studies and results have shown that about 200 ms were recorded from the electrogram before stimulation as compared to 600 ms after stimulation. This result aligns with the findings that infants respond very strongly to music.

These results undoubtedly proved the hypothesis that fetuses and infants have the ability to distinguish between different sound waves intensities as well as manifesting clear responses to them. But what do these studies mean for the emotional development of very young babies?

In order to solve this question, it is important to know that the human brain reacts to stimuli through all four areas: frontal, temporal, parietal and subcortical areas in accordance with attention, motor functions, memorization and emotion/ motivation.

Studies on rats during different stages of development: prenatal and early postnatal period have shown that music enhances their learning capabilities. Specifically, music and rhythms have a positive effect on the reward system, which then induces brain functions of the subcortical area, rendering the development of socioemotional basis. Science has shown that after 37 weeks in the womb, the fetus brain has fully developed with all four lobes; the only growth outside of the womb has to do with its size, which will not reach its full capacity until the age of five. With the past conclusion from above, it is safe to say that the interaction between music and fetuses from 27 weeks on triggers more advanced socioemotional functions for young babies.

Moreover, the exposure to music, whether lyrical or not, helps infants not only to develop their auditory skills but also understand the dynamics of social interaction faster. Studies have shown that these stimuli studied are most contingent with sound waves. This doesn’t merely mean music but also the tones and intensity of voices as well. Just like how parents use higher and more tones in their voice when communicating with their babies, as well as making facial expressions; babies tend to respond when some mouth actions, smiling, shaking their hands, reaching out to us; most of the time, these reactions are rather of happy, positive nature. In adults, it was studied that voices activate functions in the areas of middle superior temporal sulci and gyri; which suggests the recognition of different emotions in one’s voice. This could very likely mean that singing, or talking in fluctuating tones to your baby can help them develop a sense of understanding about the emotion conveyed in their conversations.