Gwen E. Gustafson

Infants’ cries in the process of normal development

A developmental process model is presented for studying the relations among infant crying, social interaction, and development. The model focuses on how cry‐initiated social interactions may foster aspects of normal social, communicative, and cognitive development. Data from both laboratory and home studies are presented to support the main postulates of the model. The process model is contrasted with the more familiar developmental prediction model, which focuses on how cry‐related interactions may mediate individual differences in developmental outcomes.

Interrelations among the acoustic features of cries: How many features do we need?

The present study used factor analysis and multidimensional scaling to explore the dimensions underlying the acoustic features of human infants’ cries. Results indicated that between two and four components account for the correlations among acoustic features. Further, features which apparently represent respiratory processes were distinct from those representing resonances of the vocal tract. There was, however, a closer relation among respiratory and glottal processes than predicted by current models of cry production. Finally, two different approaches to acoustic analysis are outlined, one which may be useful in diagnosing health problems of infants and another which may be useful in relating cry acoustics to perception and to social interactions.

Vocal Expressions of Anger

The empirical literature demonstrates that vocal expressions of Anger are recognized at levels far exceeding chance. Further, several acoustic features of Anger expressions, including intensity, rate, and pitch, appear to serve as the basis for recognition. The standard experimental paradigm for demonstrating recognition of Anger involves actors creating the vocal expressions, pre-selection of stimuli and judges, and forced-choice paradigms for the judges to respond. The possible limitations of this kind of approach are reviewed along with the dominant theories of emotions that are behind the empirical studies. Recent work on embodied cognition as it relates to emotional expressions and suggestions for future studies is discussed.