FETAL REACTIONS TO RECURRENT MATERNAL SPEECH

Pregnant women recited a short child's rhyme, ''the target,'' aloud ea ch day between the thirty third and thirty seventh weeks of their fetu ses' gestation. Then their fetuses were stimulated with tape recording s of the target and a control rhyme. The target elicited a decrease in fetal heartrate whereas the control did not. Thus, fetuses' exposure to specific speech sounds can affect their subsequent reactions to tho se sounds. More generally, the result suggests that third trimester fe tuses become familiar with recurrent, maternal speech sounds.