They weigh less than 3 pounds, usually, and are perhaps 15 inches long. But “they can remember,” reports Jennifer Harper of The Washington Times (July 16, 2009):
The unborn have memories, according to medical researchers who used sound and vibration stimulation, combined with sonography, to reveal that the human fetus displays short-term memory from at least 30 weeks gestation – or about two months before they are born.
"In addition, results indicated that 34-week-old fetuses are able to store information and retrieve it four weeks later," said the research, which was released Wednesday.
These findings were obtained by scientists from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Maastricht University Medical Centre and the University Medical Centre at St. Radboud, both in the Netherlands, after a study employing “gentle but precise” sensory stimulation was made of 100 healthy pregnant women and their fetuses:
On five occasions during the last eight weeks of their pregnancies, the women received a series of one-second buzzes on their bellies with a "fetal vibroacoustic stimulator," a hand-held diagnostic device used to gauge an unborn baby's heart rate and general well-being.
The baby's responses – primarily eye, mouth and body movements – were closely monitored over the weeks with ultrasound imaging to gauge "fetal learning" patterns. The researchers found that the babies acclimated themselves to the sounds and vibrations to the point that they no longer bothered to respond – a process known as "habituation." "The stimulus is then accepted as 'safe' " by the babies, the study said.