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Verbal and Behavioral Responsiveness to the Cries of Atypical Infants
Author(s) -
Frodi Ann,
Senchak Marilyn
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.103
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1467-8624
pISSN - 0009-3920
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8624.1990.tb02761.x
Subject(s) - psychology , developmental psychology , audiology , perception , neuroscience , medicine
A total of 176 subjects (53 male students, 65 female students, and 58 mothers) were exposed to 1 of 6 types of infant cries coming from an adjacent room while their behavioral and affective responses were observed. The cries were the pain cries of 2 normal newborns, 1 infant with maladie du cri du chat, 1 with Down syndrome, 1 asphyxiated infant with brain damage, and one asphyxiated infant without brain damage. Subsequently the subjects rated the overheard cry on a series of affective, attributional, and perceptual dimensions. The results indicated that the 6 cries differentially affected the subjects' affective, self‐reported, and behavioral responses, as well as their tendency to report not hearing the cry. In general, the findings suggested that the highest‐pitched cries (those of the asphyxiated infants), in comparison to the lowest‐pitched cries (those of the normal and Down infants), elicited less optimal responses from the listeners.