A reassessment of the role of pitch and duration in adults' responses to infant crying

Dessureau, Brian; Kurowski, Carolyn O.; Thompson, Nicholas S.

doi:10.1016/s0163-6383(98)90013-3

Cited by 34 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…Two new 10-s cry stimuli were created by digitally increasing the original cry by approximately 200 and 400 Hz, respectively, resulting in two new cry sounds with an overall peak of F0 = 714.5 Hz (700 Hz cry) and F0 = 895.8 Hz (900 Hz cry). Digitally manipulated cry sounds have been successfully used in previous studies, showing their validity in terms of perception and (anticipated) caregiving responses [15,37,57,58]. The acoustic and temporal structure of the original cry sound is characteristic of the cries of normal, healthy infants (e.g., [42,66]).…”

Section: Cry Paradigmmentioning

confidence: 99%

Attachment and physiological reactivity to infant crying in young adulthood: Dissociation between experiential and physiological arousal in insecure adoptees

Schoenmaker

Huffmeijer

IJzendoorn

et al. 2015

Physiology & Behavior

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Section: Cry Paradigmmentioning

confidence: 99%

Attachment and physiological reactivity to infant crying in young adulthood: Dissociation between experiential and physiological arousal in insecure adoptees

Schoenmaker

Huffmeijer

IJzendoorn

et al. 2015

Physiology & Behavior

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“…However, cry pitch (related to frequency) has been identified as the most influential factor governing caregiver perceptions and responses (Lester and LaGasse, 2008); notably, higher-frequency cries are regularly perceived as more aversive and distressed than lower-frequency cries (Dessureau et al, 1998; Zeskind and Lester, 2001). Duration of pauses within an episode of cry is another important acoustic variable.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Differential brain responses to cries of infants with autistic disorder and typical development: An fMRI study

Venuti¹,

Caria²,

Esposito³

et al. 2012

Research in Developmental Disabilities

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This study used fMRI to measure brain activity during adult processing of cries of infants with autistic disorder (AD) compared to cries of typically developing (TD) infants. Using whole brain analysis, we found that cries of infants with AD compared to those of TD infants elicited enhanced activity in brain regions associated with verbal and prosodic processing, perhaps because altered acoustic patterns of AD cries render them especially difficult to interpret, and increased activity in brain regions associated with emotional processing, indicating that AD cries also elicit more negative feelings and may be perceived as more aversive and/or arousing. Perceived distress engendered by AD cries related to increased activation in brain regions associated with emotional processing. This study supports the hypothesis that cry is an early and meaningful anomaly displayed by children with AD. It could be that cries associated with AD alter parent-child interactions much earlier than the time that reliable AD diagnosis normally occurs.

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“…The finding that a change in duration conveys urgency is somewhat surprising in light of the large number of studies pointing to variations in fundamental frequency as an important source of perceptual information (e.g. Dessureau et al, 1998;Zeskind and Marshall, 1988). Many of the initial studies that emphasized the primary importance of fundamental frequency, however, compared the high-pitched cries of impaired infants with the cries of normal infants, or digitally altered cry characteristics.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In normal infants, cries emitted during the most invasive portions of a circumcision procedure are of higher frequency and are perceived by listeners as more intense (Porter et al, 1986). Finally, a study in which the cries of one 3-month-old infant were digitally altered along two dimensions} frequency and duration}also suggested the primary importance of relatively high fundamental frequency for conveying a sense of urgency and prompting parental response, although the duration of cries also had some effect (Dessureau et al, 1998).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Acoustic features of infant crying related to intended caregiving intervention

Zeifman¹

2004

Infant and Child Development

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The present study investigated the acoustic features of crying associated with intended caregiving intervention. One hundred eighty-eight parents (138 females, 50 males) viewed a videotape depicting a healthy 4-week-old infant progressing from fussing to crying over the course of 4 minutes, and indicated if and when they would pick up the infant in a real-life situation. There was a distinct peak in responding corresponding to an increase in duration but not fundamental frequency of the infant's cries. This finding is discussed in terms of the existing empirical literature. It is hypothesized that, whereas frequency may convey information about a newborn's neurological integrity and health status at birth, duration and other acoustical variables provide information about slightly older, normal infants' level of distress.

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A reassessment of the role of pitch and duration in adults' responses to infant crying

Cited by 34 publications

References 10 publications

Attachment and physiological reactivity to infant crying in young adulthood: Dissociation between experiential and physiological arousal in insecure adoptees

Attachment and physiological reactivity to infant crying in young adulthood: Dissociation between experiential and physiological arousal in insecure adoptees

Differential brain responses to cries of infants with autistic disorder and typical development: An fMRI study

Acoustic features of infant crying related to intended caregiving intervention

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