Fetuses Respond To Face-Like Patterns, Study Suggests
Fetuses in the third trimester responded more often to patterns that resembled faces than patterns that did not. The findings don't mean fetuses can recognize their parents' faces before they're born.
by Rob Stein
Jun 08, 2017
3 minutes
Provocative new research suggests that fetuses have the ability to discern faces when they're still in the womb.
A study involving 34-week-old fetuses found they were more likely to focus on a pattern of lights that resembled a human face than on the same lights configured to look nothing like a face.
While the results need to be confirmed by follow-up experiments, some researchers who were not involved in the experiment say the findings are a significant advance in understanding early
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