Vijai P. Sharma, Ph.D

The myth goes on to explain that when the prince's mother was pregnant with him, his father, in order to calm her fears, told her exactly how he would penetrate the enemy's so called invincible defense and conquer.  The prince never forgot what he learned that day while residing in his mother's womb.  

The purpose of myths is to tell the story of the creation of humans and what they are truly capable of.  Here, we have a myth about fetal memory and fetal learning.  But it's not all "myth."  Recent studies by pre-natal psychologists show that learning begins even before babies are born—the fetus learns about sounds, flavors, and vibrations inside the uterus and carries those memories after birth.  
Psychologist William Fifer of Columbia University found that newborns enter the world with distinctive preference for at least two sounds, the mother's heart beat and her voice.  Newborns prefer their mothers' voice to the voice of other women.  When a mother's voice is electronically altered to sound as it did in the uterus, a baby prefers it all the more.  
       One study found that newborns recognize the cadences of rhymes that their mothers said repeatedly during the last few weeks of pregnancy.  My take on this is that mothers, in the last couple months of their pregnancy, should sing their favorite nursery rhymes to their unborn babies.  Mothers should continue singing the same nursery rhymes after birth, so babies can really feel at home, as though to say, "that has a familiar ring about it."  

According to psychologist Julie Mennella of Monnel Chemical Senses Center, Philadelphia, babies may also remember food flavors available in the uterus.  Flavors such as garlic are present in the amniotic fluid in the uterus.  Many flavors from a mother's diet are integrated into mother's milk.  These early experiences with flavors may form the basis of some food preferences as the child grows older.  
Further evidence of fetal learning comes from experiments with vibrations.  By twenty-six weeks, a fetus will move when vibrations are administered to a pregnant woman's abdomen.  But, after repeated vibrations, the fetus gets used to it and doesn't move any longer.  However, if a new type of vibration is used, the fetus will again move in response.  This tells us that a baby inside the womb learns by experience.  If it's the same vibrations repeated several times, it says, "Oh, it's the same old stuff, don't bother."  But if it's a new type of vibration, it says, "Oh, watch this one.  Move out of its way, Johnny." 

Much of the behavior of the newborn can be traced back to behaviors that were present during the gestation period.  For example, some fetuses engage in thumb sucking and they continue doing so after they're born.  

Thus, babies come into the outside world with a stock of learned behaviors, memories, and megabytes of knowledge about the external world.  What about emotional learning?  Do babies also learn to emotionally respond to their environment even before they are born?  
After all, babies do enter this world with certain emotional tendencies. These emotional tendencies are not entirely derived from inherited genes.  Environment also plays a part in shaping a child's emotional tendencies.  Well, if the environment does shape behavior, what about the "maternal environment," the only environment with which the unborn baby is involved. 

The mother's emotional state of mind and her physical health during pregnancy constitute the maternal environment for the baby.  We know that excessive stress or depression experienced by the mother can somehow influence the baby in the womb and he or she may enter this world with skewed emotional characteristics. 

The findings about the baby's learning and memory during gestation period, and influence of maternal environment on the unborn baby bring even greater responsibility for a family.  A mother must do her best to minimize her stress level and to remain in a happy and positive mood during pregnancy.  A father must do his best to give maximum emotional support to the expectant mother to help give the baby a jump start in this world.         
 

How do you like this article? Click here to email your thoughts and comments to the author, Dr. Sharma.

Return to Self Help

Copyright 1996, Mind Publications