Experience, as the old saying goes, is the best teacher; and experience seems to play an important early role in how infants learn to understand and produce language
Using new technology that measures the magnetic field generated by the activation of neurons in the brain, researchers tracked what appears to be a link between the listening and speaking areas of the brain in newborn, 6-month-old and year-old infants before they can speak. The study showed that Broca's area, located in the front of the left hemisphere of the brain, gradually is activated during the initial year of life (NeuroReport, July 2006).
Broca's area has been identified as the seat of speech production and social cognition. It is critical to language and reading, according to study co-author Patricia Kuhl, PhD, co-director of the Institute for Brain and Learning Sciences and a professor in the Department of Speech & Hearing Sciences at the University of Washington.
