Anyone who's ever tried to learn a new language knows it's not easy. But for most babies, it seems to be a piece of cake. Some researchers at Virginia Tech are trying to find out why that is by testing infants in various situations.

Meet 8-month old J.J. He enjoys sticking things in his mouth, eating "big people food" and exploring. J.J. holds the answers to these researchers' questions.

Erika Gray, Mother - "I sit and wonder sometimes what he's thinking about."

"And you're going to sit here and put him on your lap."

The first experiment for J.J.

Dr. Robin Penneton, Infant Perception Lab Director - "Whether or not babies have a preference for females who are speaking, depending on the age of the female."

"He said to us, 'Why do you sit there like that?'"

"I know some new tricks, said the Cat in the Hat."

J.J. heard four women ages 10, 16, 50 and 90 read the Dr. Seuss book. Like every other baby who'd been tested, J.J. paid more attention to the 10-year old.

Dr. Penneton - "It could be the pitch of the voice. The 10-year old's voice is highest in pitch. But we also know babies pay a lot of attention to siblings."

The next experiment.

Dr. Penneton - "Whether or not infants are capable of discriminating speech sounds, in their native language, when there's noise in the background."

"Ba ba. Ba ba."

This time, J.J. was bored and didn't even notice when the background noise disappeared and the woman started saying.

"Ga ga."

A common, but unexpected reaction to this experiment. Researchers are trying to figure out how babies can learn a language with distractions.

Dr. Penneton - "But they're not learning language in labs, they're learning it at home. And those homes have televisions, and dogs and cats and telephones, and lots of sources of distraction... including other speakers."

Gray - "He's used to noise, but to see something different, he really likes."

So researchers think perhaps making the woman more animated could be the solution. Baby J.J. -- one little problem solver.

Virginia Tech's Infant Perception Lab is always looking for volunteers to assist in their experiments. They're looking for infants from birth to 12 months. Click here for more information.