They're Listening and They're Learning

Ever since I became pregnant, my husband and I have spent a lot of time discussing parenting. What we should do, what we should watch for, what is off limit in front of children. One of the things I've always stressed was absolutely no arguing in the presence of our son. Sometimes we do well, other times we fail but we try to do our best to minimize any loud and angry tones.

Today, I came across an article on Huffington Post which discussed a study being conducted at the University of Oregon. Researchers scanned the brains of 20 sleeping infants and recorded their reactions to hearing different tones.


Here's what they found:

"Graham and her colleagues scanned the brains of 20 sleeping infants, ages 6 months to 12 months, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (a technique that measures blood flow as a proxy for brain activity). Inside the scanner, the babies heard nonsense sentences spoken by a male adult in very angry, mildly angry, happy or neutral tones.

The sleeping infants' brains showed distinct patterns of activity corresponding to each different emotional tone, the study revealed. Compared with babies raised in healthy homes, infants in high-conflict homes (as reported by their mothers) had a greater response to the very angry voice in brain regions involved in stress and emotion regulation — the rostral anterior cingulated cortex, the caudate, the thalamus and the hypothalamus. Previous studies in animals indicated that these regions show effects of early life stress on development, and this study suggests human babies may experience a similar phenomenon.

The findings suggest babies are aware of parental conflicts and that these conflicts may affect how the infants' brains handle stress and emotion, Graham said."

It is very surprising to find that what happens when babies are sleeping also affects their neurological development. I guess from now on, we'll have to take our arguments outside. Literally.

How do you avoid arguments in front of your children?