Journalist Annie Murphy Paul shares early-learning insights

Prominent journalist Annie Murphy Paul shared her personal research on fetal development and learning with Liberty University students during Wednesday’s Convocation.

Paul is a contributing writer for a number of publications, including Time Magazine, CNN, Forbes, Psychology Today, The Huffington Post, The New York Times Magazine, and O, The Oprah Magazine. She is the author of “The Cult of Personality” and “Origins,” which explores the science of prenatal influences, and is a frequent guest lecturer at Ivy League schools such as Yale and Harvard University.

Paul shared her popular TED Talk — a nonprofit forum devoted to spreading innovative ideas — on the fetal development of a baby in utero. She explained that babies will remember and respond positively to tastes and sounds that they experience in the womb. Research indicates that newborns cry in the accent of their mother’s native tongue, which Paul explained shows that a baby is born already in tune with that culture.

“We often think when a baby is born that they are somehow new to the world,” she said. “However, the specific world that they are going to enter has been shaping them for nine months. This gives babies a head start to what they are going to have to learn as babies and as children.”

After her talk, Paul joined David Nasser, Liberty’s senior vice president for Spiritual Development, in a Q-and-A-style discussion. Paul shared some tips for intellectual growth with the students and encouraged them to be actively engaged in the learning process.

“Education is so often presented as ‘here are the answers: memorize them, prepare for that on the test.’ No one has ever been very interested in an answer. What’s interesting is your questions,” Paul said. “I would ask students here to ask themselves what is the question that they want an answer to and what causes them to become engaged. When we are engaged, we try harder, and we persevere longer because we are fully into what we are working on.”

After Convocation, Paul spent time signing copies of her book “Origins” and interacting with students.

“It was amazing to come to Liberty for the first time today, and to look out and see all the open, receptive faces eager to listen to subjects that they are not necessarily familiar with,” she said.