The acoustic basis of preferences for infant-directed singing

Trainor, Laurel J.; Clark, Elissa D.; Huntley, Anita; Adams, Beth

doi:10.1016/s0163-6383(97)90009-6

Cited by 183 publications

(173 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…In our opinion, this argument is more consistent with the results observed in the present three experiments since the patterns are easier to connect to findings in the vocal expression of emotion (Scherer et al, 2003;Juslin & Laukka, 2003), and even to infant-directed singing, than to the conventions of music. For example, infantdirected singing has relatively more energy at lower frequencies (Trainor, Clark, Huntley, & Adams, 1997), rendering it more pleasant to the listener (infant and adult), which is consistent with the observations of the present study concerning the Valence dimension. Also, the few studies dealing with aspects of timbre in communicating emotions in music (Goydke et al, 2004;Juslin, 2000;Scherer & Oshinsky, 1977) have drawn mutually consistent observations about the role of high-frequency energy content and articulation type relating to different emotional expressions.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Timbre and Affect Dimensions: Evidence from Affect and Similarity Ratings and Acoustic Correlates of Isolated Instrument Sounds

2012

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considerable effort has been made towards understanding how acoustic and structural features contribute to emotional expression in music, but relatively little attention has been paid to the role of timbre in this process. Our aim was to investigate the role of timbre in the perception of affect dimensions in isolated musical sounds, by way of three behavioral experiments. In Experiment 1, participants evaluated perceived affects of 110 instrument sounds that were equal in duration, pitch, and dynamics using a three-dimensional affect model (valence, energy arousal, and tension arousal) and preference and emotional intensity. In Experiment 2, an emotional dissimilarity task was applied to a subset of the instrument sounds used in Experiment 1 to better reveal the underlying affect structure. In Experiment 3, the perceived affect dimensions as well as preference and intensity of a new set of 105 instrument sounds were rated by participants. These sounds were also uniform in pitch, duration, and playback dynamics but contained systematic manipulations in the dynamics of sound production, articulation, and ratio of high-frequency to low-frequency energy. The affect dimensions for all the experiments were then explained in terms of the three kinds of acoustic features extracted: spectral (e.g., ratio of high-frequency to low-frequency energy), temporal (e.g., attack slope), and spectro-temporal (e.g., spectral flux). High agreement among the participants' ratings across the experiments suggested that even isolated instrument sounds contain cues that indicate affective expression, and these are recognized as such by the listeners. A dominant portion (50-57%) of the two dimensions of affect (valence and energy arousal) could be predicted by linear combinations of few acoustic features such as ratio of high-frequency to low-frequency energy, attack slope, and spectral regularity. Links between these features and those observed in the vocal expression of affects and other sound phenomena are discussed.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Timbre and Affect Dimensions: Evidence from Affect and Similarity Ratings and Acoustic Correlates of Isolated Instrument Sounds

2012

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“…Perception of tempo is essential for communication and social interaction, as it conveys information about affect, intent, emphasis, and meaning (e.g., Bullowa, 1979;Jaffee, Beebe, Feldstein, Crown, & Jasnow, 2001;Stern, 1985;Trevarthan, 1993;WalkerAndrews, 1997). Infant-directed communication differs from adult-directed communication along a number of temporal dimensions, including tempo and rhythm, and infants discriminate and attend selectively to infant-directed speech, singing, and signing (e.g., Cooper & Aslin, 1990;Fernald, 1985;Jaffee, et al, 2001;Koester, Papousek, & Papousek, 1989;Masatka, 1996;Trainor, Clark, Huntley, & Adams, 1997).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Intersensory redundancy facilitates discrimination of tempo in 3‐month‐old infants

Bahrick

Flom

Lickliter

2002

Developmental Psychobiology

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L. Bahrick and R. Lickliter (2000) proposed an intersensory redundancy hypothesis that states that information presented redundantly and in temporal synchrony across two or more sensory modalities selectively recruits infant attention and facilitates perceptual learning more effectively than does the same information presented unimodally. In support of this view, they found that 5-month-old infants were able to differentiate between two complex rhythms when they were presented bimodally, but not unimodally. The present study extended our test of the intersensory redundancy hypothesis to younger infants and to a different amodal property. Three-month-olds' sensitivity to the amodal property of tempo was investigated. Results replicated and extended those of Bahrick and Lickliter, demonstrating that infants could discriminate a change in tempo following bimodal, but not unimodal, habituation. It appears that when infants are first learning to differentiate an amodal stimulus property, discrimination is facilitated by intersensory redundancy and attenuated under conditions of unimodal stimulation.

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“…An emotion hypothesis may also explain why ID speech is universally higher in pitch than is AD. There appears to be an intrinsic mapping between pitch and emotion (Scherer, 1986;Trainor et al, 2000;Trainor, Clark, Huntley, & Adams, 1997). Although the expression of fear can also be associated with high pitch in conjunction with a tense timbre (Scherer, 1986), across human cultures as well as across many animal species, low pitch tends to signal aggression, and high pitch tends to signal friendliness and nonaggression (Morton, 1977).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Pitch characteristics of infant-directed speech affect infants’ ability to discriminate vowels

Trainor

Desjardins

2002

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review

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151

132

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"Baby talk" or speech directedto prelinguisticinfants is high in pitch and has exaggeratedpitch contours (up/down patterns of pitch change) across languages and cultures. Using an acoustic model, we predicted that the large pitch contours of infant-directed speech should improve infants' ability to discriminate vowels. On the other hand, the same model predicted that high pitch would not benefit, and might actually impair, infants' ability to discriminate vowels. We then confirmed these predictions experimentally. We conclude that the exaggerated pitch contours of infant-directed speech aid infants' acquisition of vowel categories but that the high pitch of infant-directed speech must serve another function, such as attracting infants' attention or aiding emotional communication.

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The acoustic basis of preferences for infant-directed singing

Cited by 183 publications

References 41 publications

Timbre and Affect Dimensions: Evidence from Affect and Similarity Ratings and Acoustic Correlates of Isolated Instrument Sounds

Timbre and Affect Dimensions: Evidence from Affect and Similarity Ratings and Acoustic Correlates of Isolated Instrument Sounds

Intersensory redundancy facilitates discrimination of tempo in 3‐month‐old infants

Pitch characteristics of infant-directed speech affect infants’ ability to discriminate vowels

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