[DSRP Evidence](https://dsrpevidence.org/)

# Studying Learning in the Womb

## Details

**Authors** Gina Kolata

**Year** 1984

**Publisher** Science

**Discipline** Human Development

[Read it at the publisher](https://doi.org/10.1126/science.6740312) 
10.1126/science.6740312

## In authors' words

### What they set out to do (purpose)

Studying learning in utero

### What they found (results)

Learning begins in the womb which is indicated by a variety of studies.

## Commentary

### In short

Distinction-making as a process occurs in utero.

### In more detail

Kolata 1984 studied learning while in utero. In the past, researchers thought that an infant’s world was incredibly confusing and overwhelming, but it is becoming increasingly clear that infants are familiarized with their environment from day one. This means that infants are learning while developing in the mother’s womb. She wrote that, “They [infants] can discriminate between objects that they can see and even recognize their mother’s voice.” Infants can Distinguish, from birth, their caregiver’s voices. Some

studies showed that babies recognize and show a preference for poems or stories that were read to them while developing in the womb. The fetus has a unique Perspective on their in-utero world of sounds and stimulations. The fetus draws Relationships between the sounds of voices to sources and responds more positively, after birth, to its mother's voice. Evidence that fetuses form Distinctions before they encounter the complexity of the world forwards the assertion that Distinction-making is an innate process possessed by human beings. In fact, whenever researchers look for evidence of fetal learning, they find it.

**Patterns it shows** D

**How to cite this** Gina Kolata (1984). Studying Learning in the Womb. Science.