The fact that humans can have languages is a property of the nervous system that is present at birth, and thus phylogenetic in character.
[citation needed] However, perception of the particular set of phonemes specific to a native language only develops during ontogeny.
The researchers concluded that "the experiences of a parent, even before conceiving, markedly influence both structure and function in the nervous system of subsequent generations".
Ribot, in 1881, for example, held that psychological and genetic memory were based upon a common mechanism, and that the former only differed from the latter in that it interacted with consciousness.
[6] Hering and Semon developed general theories of memory, the latter inventing the idea of the engram and concomitant processes of engraphy and ecphory.