Acoustic Characteristics of Naturally Occurring Cries of Infants with "Colic"

Although infantile colic has long been defined by a perceived excessive amount of crying, acoustic attributes of the cry sound may also contribute to perceptions that this early social behavior is excessive or problematic. From an original sample of 76 infants (38 infants referred to physicians for problematic crying, or "colic," and 38 pair-matched comparison infants), 48 infants who produced naturally occurring cry bouts both before and after an evening feeding were studied: 11 infants with Wessel's colic, 15 infants with non-Wessel's colic, and 22 comparison infants. Standard and vociferous cry segments were selected from up to 2 min of tape-recorded crying for spectrum analysis. Vociferous cry segments had a longer duration, a higher fundamental frequency, and a greater percentage of dysphonation than did standard segments. No differences between infant groups were found in cries before feeding. After feeding, infants who were problematic criers, independent of Wessel's criteria, showed a greater percentage of dysphonation in the vociferous cry segment than did comparison infants. This finding resulted from a decrease in dysphonation in the cries of comparison infants after feeding and an increase in those of infants with non-Wessel's colic. The dominant frequency also increased after feeding in the vociferous cries of infants with Wessel's colic, resulting in these infants having higher-pitched cries after feeding than infants in the other 2 groups. Results indicate that infants who are perceived to have problematic crying have objectively different acoustic features in their cry sounds that are particularly aversive, and that complaints about excessive crying cannot be accounted for simply on the basis of reporting bias in overly concerned or emotionally labile parents.     

Cognitive Set and Coping Strategy Affect Mothers' Sensitivity to Infant Cries: A Signal Detection Approach

We used Signal Detection methodology to examine how cognitiveset affects mothers' response to an infant cry. We asked whether a cry from a "difficult" versus an "easy" infant would elicit a change in sensitivity or response bias in mother processing of these cries. Thirty-eight mothers of 4- to 6-month-old infants participated in a Signal Detection task in which they were asked whether they could detect differences between a standard cry and 1 to 4 cry variants. Cry variants differed from the standard cry in small, systematic changes in fundamental frequency. The task was conducted in 2 parts; each part constituted a condition wherein mother received a cognitive set manipulation that labeled the identical cry as coming from either a'difficult'or an "easy" infant. An increase in mothers' sensitivity was associated with the "difficult" infant cognitive set. We examined as well how a coping strategy(illusion of control) affected cry signal processing. Mothers who Exhibited high illusory control were least -sensitive in detecting differences between cries. Two information-prcessing, measures response time and heart rate, were also collected and showed that greater sensitivity was associated with more efficient processing of the cry signal.     

Challenges in Characterizing the “Mommy Brain”

SYNOPSIS

Parental neuroimaging promises to shed light on how humans adapt to the demands of parenthood, but this research is not without challenges. A study in this issue reports differences between mothers’ and non-mothers’ default mode network activation during a goal-oriented task accompanied by human vocalizations. However, they did not find hypothesized differences in response specifically to infant cry, and the reach of conclusions that can be made based on these findings is limited. In my commentary, I present ideas for ways this work could be extended to make more definitive statements about the nature and potential benefits of parental brain adaptations.     

Adults'' Tolerance of Cries: An Experimental Investigation of Acoustic Features

Variations in the aversiveness of a newborn's distress cry were examined using experimental manipulation of 3 acoustic features of the cry (fundamental frequency, intonation, spectral complexity) and of the information given to subjects about the infant's health status. The subjects (N = 164 medical students) were allowed to control the sound pressure level (range: 50 dB [A]-105 dB[A]) of the different cry versions by repeatedly pressing a button (operant titration). For the nonmanipulated (original) cry version, the accepted sound pressure level decreased as fundamental frequency increased at above 610 Hz. This effect was modified by experimental manipulation of spectral complexity as well as intonation. A preference of intonated cries over monotonous cries was most pronounced between 534 and 686 Hz. Significant interactions of the information variable with the intonation and the complexity variables suggest that the listener's reaction to certain physical cry characteristics can be altered substantially by inducing different cognitive sets.     

On the importance of fundamental frequency and other acoustic features in cry perception and infant development

This study examined acoustic correlates of adults' ratings of infants' cries. Parents and nonparents rated 12 spontaneous cries from young infants on 8 items describing the cries' aversiveness and on 9 semantic differential items. The results indicated that the duration, the amount of dysphonation, and proportion of energy in various frequency bands were highly correlated with adults' ratings. Further, the pattern of correlations between each of the 17 rating scale items and the acoustic attributes was virtually the same, suggesting that the items represented a single underlying dimension of perceived aversiveness. Finally, no differences were found between the results for parents and nonparents. General issues in the study of cry perception are discussed.     

Smiling and Fussing in Seven-Month-Old Preterm and Full-Term Black Infants in the Still-Face Situation

We investigated emotional responses to the still-face paradigm in 7-month-old preterm and full-term black infants. Baby FACS criteria were used to code the duration and intensity of infant smiles and the presence or absence of cry faces and fussy vocalizations within each episode. Infants in both groups showed the still-face effect: a significant reduction in smiling from episode 1 (baseline) to episode 2 (maternal still-face) and partial return to baseline in episode 3 (recovery). A multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) for big smiles yielded significant main effects for group and episode and a significant group episode interaction. Preterm infants spent less time than full-term infants displaying big smiles in episode 1 and a less pronounced decrease in big smiles in episode 2. Maternal depressive symptoms did not differ significantly between groups. Counter to our expectations, depressive symptoms were positively associated with small-to-medium smiles in the baseline episode but not with big smiles in any episode. These findings confirm the robustness of the still-face paradigm and its potential usefulness for research on individual as well as group differences in affective communication in infants.     

Neonatal pain cries: effect of circumcision on acoustic features and perceived urgency

The relation between neonatal cry features elicited by painful circumcision procedures and the perceived urgency of those cries was investigated. Vocalizations were recorded during circumcision of 30 normal newborn males, analyzed by spectrographic methods and validated with computer techniques. The most invasive procedures elicited significantly longer crying bouts; shorter quiet intervals; shorter, more frequent vocalizations; higher peak fundamental frequencies; fewer harmonics; and greater variability of the fundamental. Cries elicited by the most intrusive procedures were judged by adult listeners to be the most urgent, and cries from similarly invasive procedures were judged to be of the same degree of urgency. Cries appeared to be judged along 3 dimensions described by harmonic, temporal, and pitch characteristics. Subjective judgments and objective quantitative data converge to demonstrate that infants' cries are perceived as varying and, objectively, do systematically vary with respect to the intensity of painful stimuli.     

Neurobehavioral Syndromes in Cocaine-exposed Newborn Infants

The effects of fetal cocaine exposure on newborn cry characteristics were studied in 80 cocaine-exposed and 80 control infants. The groups were stratified to be similar on maternal demographic characteristics and maternal use of other illegal substances and alcohol during pregnancy. The hypothesis was that excitable cry characteristics were related to the direct effects of cocaine, while depressed cry characteristics were related to the indirect effects of cocaine secondary to low birthweight. Structural equation modeling (EQS) showed direct effects of cocaine on cries with a longer duration, higher fundamental frequency, and a higher and more variable first formant frequency. Indirect effects of cocaine secondary to low birthweight resulted in cries with a longer latency, fewer utterances, lower amplitude, and more dysphonation. Cocaine-exposed infants had a lower birthweight, shorter length, and smaller head circumference than the unexposed controls. Findings were consistent with the notion that 2 neurobehavioral syndromes, excitable and depressed, can be described in cocaine-exposed infants, and that these 2 syndromes are due, respectively, to direct neurotoxic effects and indirect effects secondary to intrauterine growth retardation.     

The effects of within-group and between-group methodologies in the study of perceptions of infant crying

Recent studies have indicated that various infant cry patterns can be reliably distinguished when directly compared with other infant cry patterns. The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of this within-group method of cry presentation (in which listeners are exposed to 2 types of cry patterns) with the effects of a between-group methodology (in which listeners are exposed to only 1 type of infant cry pattern). 4 groups of adult listeners rated the tape-recorded cries of low- and high-risk infants on 4 Likert-type scale items during experimental phases. In phase 1, subjects were exposed to either the cries of low-risk or high-risk infants but not both. In phase 2, subjects were exposed to both low-risk and high-risk infant cries. In phase 3, subjects were exposed to the cries they heard in phase 1. Whereas all scale items differentiated the low- and high-risk infant cries during the within-group analyses of phase 2, all scale items did not differentiate low- and high-risk infant cries during the between-group phase of the experiment. The specific pattern of results indicate that within-group methods of cry presentation accentuate the perceptual distance among cry types and may actually create many reliable differences that would not be found in between-group comparisons.     

Infant Crying and Adults'' Anticipated Caregiving Responses: Acoustic and Contextual Influences

These studies assessed adults' latencies to signal that they would respond to infant crying as functions of (1) the degree of infant distress they perceived in the cry, and (2) contextual information relevant to caregiving. In the first study (N = 34), listeners waited longer to respond to cries that they had earlier rated as sounding less distressed than when they heard cries of higher distress. Further, those who had been told that the infant needed sleep waited longer to respond than those without this information. This effect of context information, however, was limited to the latencies; in another study (N = 50), listeners' ratings of distress were not affected. Several acoustic features of the cries correlated with distress ratings and with latencies to signal a caregiving response. Taken together, the results suggest that adults' responses to crying are influenced both by acoustic gradations in the cry itself and by the caregiving context. Ratings of degree of distress manifest in the cry, in other words, may be highly predictive of caregiving behavior but not wholly so. Finally, although certain acoustic variations related to greater perceived distress and speed of response, differences were apparent between infants in the magnitude of these variations. The implication that the general process of cry perception may be calibrated, or fine tuned, to the range of acoustic variation provided by individual infants is discussed.     

Brain Processes in Mothers and Nulliparous Women in Response to Cry in Different Situational Contexts: A Default Mode Network Study

SYNOPSIS

Objective: In everyday life, parents must respond to and interact with children while in different situational contexts. How situational contexts influence parents’ responses has not been systematically studied. Here we investigated mothers’ versus nonmothers’ neural responses to infant vocalizations in different situations with different task demands. Design: Using fMRI in 21 women (10 mothers), we explored the effects of being distracted by self-oriented (self-referential decisions about personality adjectives) versus goal-oriented (syllabic counting of personality adjectives) tasks while listening to infant cry in comparison with other emotional sounds (infant laughing, adult crying) on the activity of two medial nodes of the Default Mode Network (DMN): the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) and posterior cingulate cortex (PCC). Results: In the self-oriented task while listening to infant cry, both mothers and nulliparas showed (weak) activation of the DMN; this response likely reflects a shift of attention from the task to the cry. In the goal-oriented task, mothers, not nulliparas, showed (weak) activation of the DMN; this result is compatible with interference of emotional sounds while attending to a goal-oriented task, an activity that deactivates the DMN. Conclusions: Mothers are prone to process infant cry and emotional sounds and are less distracted from doing so by situational contexts, demonstrating their greater sensitivity to emotional sounds such as cry. By contrast, situational context influenced brain responses to infant sounds in nulliparas.     

Effects of marijuana use during pregnancy on newborn cry

The effects of maternal marijuana use on the newborn cry were studied in Jamaica, where it was possible to rule out confounding factors such as the use of other substances and demographic variables that have clouded previous studies and where higher dosages may make the effects more visible. The acoustic characteristics of the cries of 20 infants of marijuana users and 20 controls were analyzed. The cries of the infants of marijuana users were shorter, had a higher percentage of dysphonation, a higher and more variable fundamental frequency, and a lower first formant than controls. There was also a dose response relation between the first formant and marijuana use. We suggest that heavy marijuana use affects the neurophysiological integrity of the infant.     

Early Ontogeny of Vocal Behavior of Japanese Infants in Response to Maternal Speech

Discriminant analysis was used to distinguish statistically between the comfort-state vocalizations uttered by Japanese infants following 5 different types of pitch contours of maternal speech. Ontogenetic changes of their vocal behaviors were investigated during the first 5 months of life. Structural variability in infant vocalizations across variants of maternal speech was found to be characterized by a set of quantifiable physical parameters. However, infant's age when a vocalization was recorded was not an important contributor. Successful attempts at cross-validation, in which the discriminant profiles derived from one sample of vocalizations were used to classify a second set of vocalizations, indicated that the result obtained was not an artifact of using the same data set to derive the profiles to test reclassification accuracy. Proportion of cross-validated vocalizations that were misclassified decreased as age increased. The results of the present study demonstrate that a statistically significant relation exists between acoustic features of maternal speech and those of following infant vocalizations, and that such a relation strengthens over age.     

The origins of intentional vocalizations in prelinguistic infants.

The development of the intention to communicate was examined by attempting to identify the point at which prelinguistic vocalizations are used by infants as a means of communication. This achievement was related to the infants' cognitive development. It was hypothesized that Piagetian stage 5 in the development of causality may be a prerequisite for the intentional use of vocalizations. 46 infants (X age = 10.7 months, range: 8 months--14.3 months) and their mothers were videotaped in a structured, naturalistic setting. 2 "frustration" episodes were devised to encourage communication, and the infants' vocalizations as well as other behaviors were coded by 2 observers. 2 Piagetian tasks were selected to assess the causal developmental level of the child. A significant relationship between causal developmental level and the occurrence of intentional vocalizations was found. The results support the hypothesis that stage 5 causal development may be a prerequisite to the use of intentional vocalizations.     

论教师和学生的异同

教师和学生的相同点为教师和学生都是具有主观能动性的人,具体来说都是具有学习性、选择性、创新性的人。教师和学生的差异表现为成长环境和认知的差异,身心发展程度的差异,知识、能力的差异等。教师和学生的异同,要求师生互尊,相信与鼓励教师、学生创新,理解学生的多元认知、失误乃至异想天开的想法与做法。     

Adult perceptions of pain and hunger cries: a synchrony of arousal

180 male and female nonparent adults rated tape-recordings of the initial, middle, and final 10-sec segments of pain and hunger cries on 4 7-point Likert-type scale items describing how urgent, arousing, aversive, and sick the cry segments sounded. Multivariate analyses of variance showed that the final segment of the pain cry was perceived as less urgent, arousing, and aversive than the initial and middle segments. The hunger cry was perceived as increasingly more urgent, arousing, and aversive from the initial to the middle to the final cry segments, with the final segment receiving higher ratings than the final segment of the pain cry. The middle segment of both cries was the most sick sounding. While females were more aroused than males as the hunger cry intensified, and females were less aroused than males as the pain cry subsided, the initial segments of the pain cry were particularly potent stimuli to both males and females. These results suggest that different segments of cries resulting from the same stimulus provide different messages that communicate the presumed level of infant arousal.     

Fortschritt und Verantwortung! Education as a rallying cry in Luxembourg’s general elections of 1974

Education became a rallying cry in Luxembourg’s general elections of 1974. For the first time in the country’s post-war history, the Socialists and Democrats entered the government, with new plans for education. The unbroken rule of almost 30 years by the Christian Democrats was over. New ‘global’ educational concepts were employed to introduce changes in the national curriculum, the aim being a transformation from an elite to a mass system of participation. One of these changes was the idea of the comprehensive school, which divided the electorates, parties and press respectively. Yet, this fundamental change has received little attention in the academic literature. What were the differences between the parties when it came to education policy? By intersecting politics, globalisation and education, this paper examines the impact of the election events of 1974 on Luxembourg’s political discourse. The conclusion points to the central role the parties played in the proliferation of new educational norms.     

Simulating conditions of learned helplessness: the effects of interventions and attributions

We report 2 experiments that assess factors potentially responsible for a proactive interference with the sensitivity of a mother's response to infant signals. Using a version of the "learned helplessness" paradigm, mothers' performance on a solvable task was assessed following pretreatments that involved exposure to an infant cry but that differed in the mothers' ability to exert control over the termination of the cry. Each experiment explored the role of varying attributions made by a mother in the development of, or the reversal of, the helplessness phenomenon. The first experiment addressed the question of whether a specific intervention (i.e., providing the mother an attribution for failure) can reduce the debilitating effect of prior experience with failure. The results indicated that the debilitating effects associated with previous failure were reversed for the 16 mothers assigned to the intervention group. 40 mothers participated in the second experiment, which varied attributions assigned to an identical cry stimulus (i.e., the cry was produced by an "easy" vs. a "difficult" infant). This experiment assessed the effect of varying attributions on the mothers' ability to terminate the cry. We found that mothers pretreated with inescapable cries and those receiving the experimental manipulation of attributing the cry to a "difficult" infant showed debilitated performance in stopping the cry when given the opportunity. We propose that models based on learned helplessness theory have value in the study of caregiver-infant relationships, in particular, caregivers' perceived and objective effectiveness in responding to an infant's signals.     

Evaluating the effects of repeated reading and continuous reading using a standardized dosage of words read

Repeated reading (RR) is a common fluency intervention, but recent studies comparing RR to continuous reading (CR; i.e., wide reading) found no significant differences in effects. This prompts the question of whether the mechanism that improves skills is repeatedly reading portions of connected text, or simply reading connected text. The current study examined the differential effectiveness of RR and CR for increasing oral reading fluency rate (ORF) and comprehension of 40 students in second and third grades, randomly assigned to receive the RR or CR intervention. Students in both conditions received a standardized amount of practice (dosage) in the form of number of words read during each intervention session. All but two participants increased their ORF and there were no significant differences between groups on posttest ORF or broad comprehension. Moreover, students with the highest pretest scores made slightly more growth regardless of condition. Students in the RR group demonstrated significantly higher comprehension of practiced passages and students in the CR condition reported significantly higher levels of intervention acceptability. Implications for reading fluency intervention research and practice are discussed.