GAUGING children's academic potential is possible when they are as young as 22 weeks old. This is the startling finding of research into foetal development and behaviour by overseas psychologists.
New research shows a child's intellectual development actually begins in the womb, much earlier than previously thought, and that by observing foetal movements and responses to sound, it is possible to predict school performance at 11 years of age.
Generally, the more responsive a foetus is to changes in its environment, the more intellectually active it is, pointing to a high academic standard later on, says Belfast's Queen's University psychologist Professor Peter Hepper, who is leading the foetal development research project.
The project, which is being done in association with Belfast's Royal Maternity Hospital, has a test group of 1,000 babies - 500 boys and 500 girls.
To measure responsiveness, says Professor Hepper, the foetus is stimulated with a two-second blast of sound, played through an earphone against the mother's abdomen.
Initially, the foetus will start at the sound. From a still position it would respond with movement and vice versa, becoming still after moving around. There might also be a change in heartbeat.
'The foetus is not passive,' says Professor Hepper. 'It reacts to stimulus. When something changes in their environment, they stop or start moving. They react.' When the noise is repeated, however, the foetus gradually loses interest in it, responding to it less and less until it ignores it, having habituated to the sound, or in effect, learnt it.
