When babies listen, what they’re doing is taking statistics on the language that they hear.

Source: "The Linguistic Genius of Babies." TEDxRainier. Oct. 2010. Conference Presentation. Additional Information: This quote means that when infants hear language, their brains absorb and analyze the sounds they hear, almost as if the baby were a miniature statistician. This quote is from language researcher Patricia Kuhl's 2010 TED Talk about how babies acquire language. Watch the full TED Talk here: Patricial Kuhl - The Linguistic Genius of Babies