© Aramando Babani / EPA
Dutch researchers have found that, at 30 weeks of development, fetuses have a memory of 10 minutes. At 34 weeks old, they can remember events for four weeks. The findings help explain central nervous system development -- and how fetuses may react if that growth is abnormal.
In the study, researchers in the Netherlands applied a sound-and-vibration stimulus to the abdomens of 93 pregnant women. The stimulus lasted for one second and was repeated every 30 seconds, at a location just above the fetus' leg. The fetuses ranged from 30 weeks to 38 weeks.
At first, the fetus would make a startled-like movement, says study coauthor Dr. Jan Nijhuis, director of the Centre for Genetics, Reproduction and Child Health at Maastricht University Medical Centre in the Netherlands. Eventually though, it would stop reacting. The researchers then counted the number of stimuli before the fetus stopped responding.
