Something I'll remember five years from now that I have learned in Psych 1001 is that babies can recognize differences in sounds from all different kinds of syntax. Until about a year in age, babies can be taught to hear differences in sounds that might sound the same for someone who is not used to the syntax of that language. The video shown during lecture showed an experiment in which a baby was placed in a room with speakers playing a recording of one sound (for ex: ke) and another similar sounding sound (ex: khe). There were toys that would light up on each side of the room and the sounds indicated which side would light up. The baby would, in response turn his head toward the side that the sound indicated. Older babies were unable to differenciate between sounds and did not turn their heads in the right direction in response to the sound. I found this to be amazing because the sounds sometimes sounded exactly the same and the babies were able to distinguish a difference in the sounds without a problem. It was also really fascinating to see that a baby just a couple months older could not distinguish the difference between two sounds that the younger baby could. I'll definitely remember this five years from now and probably until I have a child of my own.
