Probe configurations overlaid on schematics of an infant’s left and right hemispheres. Red dots indicate light-emitting fibers; blue dots indicate light detectors. The light detectors in the outer strips in both hemispheres sit over regions specialized for language in adults.

“Language and the newborn brain: does prenatal language experience shape the neonate neural response to speech?” by L. May, K. Byers-Heinlein, J. Gervain, and J.F. Werker, 2011. Frontiers in Psychology, 2, 1–9. Image by Judit Gervain.