talking to children – News Block

A study found that older adults who talk more with children at a young age can help shape their brains.

Previous studies and research have shown that talking with young children has many benefits. Since it improves the use of children’s language and increases vocabulary.

The research concluded that they discovered a link between the number of words adults speak to children and a compound in children’s brains called myelin, which surrounds nerves and makes signals more effective.

The study’s lead author, Professor John Spencer, from the University of East Anglia, said it sends the message that it’s important to talk to your children. Interestingly, this process shapes the structure of the brain.

In a study published in the journal Neuroscience, John Spencer and his colleagues said they attached a device to the shirts of 87 6-month-olds and 76 about 30-month-olds and recorded their conversations.

The team recorded 6,208 hours of verbal data. The scientists found that the children whose mothers were more educated talked more than the boys, causing the children to try to make more noise because they could take better care of their babies.

The team then called 84 children to the hospital and put them in a special, quiet room. They were then quietly taken into an MRI and measured the amount of myelin in their brains.

As the brain develops, the amount of myelin increases. However, the team found that 30-month-olds who were exposed to more talking were associated with more myelin in language-related pathways in the brain. By contrast, the six-month-olds had less myelin. I was less