Human infants were once thought to be born with a blank slate, but with advances in neuroscience, it has been revealed one after another that infant brain functions are more developed than previously thought. For example, it was known that part of the language cortex is activated in response to speech even in newborns, but the coupling of language circuits had not been confirmed.

A project conducted by our research group has found that newborns at 2-7 days of age strengthen frontal-temporal brain functional connectivity when they listen to their mothers talk to them. Neuroscientific evidence has shown that prefrontal cortex function in speech and language processing in newborns, which was thought to be underdeveloped, is relatively mature, and that specific caregiver storytelling promotes the development of language and social skills in infants.

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