 |
 |
Hi all from the newshound; Any article with brain in the title... Still hoping all this info going into our archives will be searchable=20 once again.... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Why mothers cradle babies on left: brain signals ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright =A9 1996 Nando.net Copyright =A9 1996 Reuter Information Servic= e LONDON (Jun 20, 1996 8:18 p.m. EDT) - Mothers around the world tend to cradle their babies on their left sides so they can croon soothingly=20 into their ears, researchers said Friday. Dr Harry Sieratzki at London's Hammersmith Hospital said holding the=20 baby on the left freed up its left ear to hear its mother's voice.=20 This would send the sound signals to the right side of the brain,=20 which processes tone, melody and emotion. Doctors have long wondered why women prefer the left side. U.S.=20 psychologist Lee Salk found in 1973 that 83 percent of right-handed=20 and 78 percent of left-handed mothers held their babies on the left=20 side. Salk theorized that this was so the babies could hear, and be calmed=20 by, their mothers' heartbeats. Other studies have shown that even babies' fathers would hold their=20 infants on the left side, while studies on primates show that=20 chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutangs, our closest relatives, also=20 tend to cradle on the left. "Interestingly the (Jewish holy book) Talmud suggests that a 'woman=20 who begins to nurse her son should start on the left side, as the=20 source of all understanding is from the left side'," Sieratzki wrote=20 in the Lancet medical journal. Sieratzki, a specialist in newborns, said his analysis indicated that=20 the reason was sound. "The mother's voice is known to the infant; her melody is tuned to the infants' needs and responses," he wrote. "All this originates from a deep-seated maternal instinct -- even deaf mothers vocalize to young deaf infants, although neither can hear the sounds." Sieratzki noted that the left ear sends its information to the right=20 side of the brain to be processed, and vice-versa. He also cited=20 studies that show that while the left side of the brain is used to=20 process grammar and syntax, the right side deals with cadence, music=20 and intonation. As babies do not recognize words, they must respond to the sound of=20 the voice, he said. -------------------------------------------------------------------- from your sister parkie in paradise where the hanging sprays of blossoms on the golden shower tree resemble huge luminous bunches of yellow grapes p.s. if anyone out there can help me get rid of those darn =3D20 symbols,=20 i'd be grateful. they started appearing on their own fairly recently,=20 although i don't think i've been doing anything different in the=20 methods i use for posting messages, and converting text. [i generally=20 copy and paste from either win notepad or win write files.] thanks janet [log in to unmask]