Here's something that may surprise you. Before your baby is even born, her brain will be fairly well developed. And she will actually begin learning things while inside the womb.

Believe it or not, the first 36 weeks of your baby's life are filled with all kinds of amazing developments. In fewer than eight weeks, for example, her little taste buds will begin to develop. Then, in the blink of an eye, she'll be sampling your favorite foods right from inside your tummy. And as your baby's hearing develops, guess what she'll be doing? Recognizing the sound of your voice.

As your baby develops the capacity to remember, she may actually begin to form memories. Memories she may carry with her as she enters this strange new world.

The first few weeks
Your baby's brain begins to develop in the first two or three weeks. By about the fourth week, sections of the brain that will control specific functions start to become distinct.

At seven weeks
In the beginning, a baby's brain is not differentiated by sex. At about the seventh week, certain hormones are released. From that point on, girls' brains and boys' brains develop at a slightly different pace.

At 24 to 25 weeks
By 24 weeks, your baby's brain will be remarkably developed. Around this time, neurons, which are cells that conduct nerve impulses, are making their way to different levels of the cortex in your baby's brain. This migration is important because it helps the brain function effectively. And after birth, it will help make connections between various levels of the brain.

At this stage, your baby will also become a busy little bee. Smelling and tasting all kinds of new things. Her sense of touch will be progressing. She'll be growing familiar with a variety of sounds. For your baby, being able to use her senses is not only a pivotal skill in itself, but also the basis for her capacity to learn and remember.

One of the earliest learning processes your baby might experience is called "habituation." Say, for example, she hears the loud noise of a car honking. It probably startles her. But then she hears the same sound a few more times. Lo and behold, it no longer startles her. What's happened is that she has become habituated, or used to, the sound.

At 30 weeks
During the third trimester, your baby's brain will grow tremendously. And take on the folded shape of a mature brain. It's at around this time that your little one may begin to form memories. Scientists have done a number of studies on the subject. In one of them, pregnant women were asked to read aloud from The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss. They were instructed to do it twice a day during their last six weeks of pregnancy. After their babies were born, the moms were asked to read aloud again from The Cat in the Hat and also from The King, the Mice and the Cheese. The babies were given special pacifiers that recorded how fast and how hard they sucked as their mothers read the two stories. It became clear that the newborns remembered and actually preferred the story they had heard in the womb. Extraordinary.

At 36 to 40 weeks
By now, all those neurons that were migrating during weeks 24 and 25 are making more and more major connections. These connections enable your baby to learn simple, yet amazing things. Like linking your voice with your face.