Nursery rhymes and brain development: “baby talk” of parents brings children in sync with their brain waves, helping them learn. From the article:

The early indications are that when the brain waves of mothers and babies are out of sync, the babies learn less well. But when the two sets of brainwaves are in tune they seem to learn more effectively. Dr Victoria Leong, who is leading the research, has discovered that babies learn well when their mums speak to them in a soothing sing-song voice which she calls “motherese”. Dr Leong’s research shows that nursery rhymes are a particularly good way for the mums in her study to get in sync with their babies.

“Although it sounds odd to us, babies really love listening to motherese even more than adult speech. It holds their attention better and the speech sounds clearer to them. So we know the more motherese the baby hears, the better the language development,” she said…. “The behaviours that love produce are good for learning,” says Dr Leong. “Drawing each other into conversation, giving each other attention and being in the moment together are all good for learning.”

h/t Postwaves Science group