Kids’ Brains Light Up When They Hear Mom, But What About You?

A new study out of the Stanford University School of Medicine expands on what experts already know: Kids really like to hear their mothers’ voices. Scanning the brains of 24 kids ages 7 to 12, researchers found that several key regions of the brain that regulate emotions and process information lit up in response to their moms, but not to the sound of other women. Though this makes a great case for your spouse to never stop talking, it begs a question brought up by many parenting studies: What about dads?

Though fathers haven’t been researched nearly as much as mothers, a 2013 study showed that fetuses could recognize their father’s voices, but they did not show the same preference towards them as their mother’s. Since even you need a few beers and a karaoke mic before you like the sound of your voice, that’s understandable. But additional data suggests that this could be because you’re just not much of a talker. A 2014 study concluded that moms speak to their infants 3 times more than fathers on average — feel free to bookmark that for reference the next time you’d like your wife to stop talking for a minute.

But before you start beefing up your baby talk, it’s important to remember that it’s not a competition, despite the fact that you really want to win. The kids whose brains showed the most activity in response to their mothers benefited from it by developing better communication skills (which they’ll use on you one day), so everybody wins. Just be happy scientists aren’t looking at what your brain does when your wife talks. That study could end badly for everyone.

[H/T] Tech Times