Infants can tell the difference between sounds of all languages until about 8 months of age when their brains start to focus only on the sounds they hear around them. It’s been unclear how this transition occurs, but social interactions and caregivers’ use of exaggerated ‘parentese’ style of speech seem to help.  University of Washington research in 7- and 11-month-old infants shows that speech sounds … Continue reading Months before their first words, babies’ brains rehearse speech mechanics.