Philip Sanford Zeskind

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.

A Biobehavioral Perspective on Crying in Early Infancy

The central role of crying in early infancy has been discussed by parents, pediatricians, and theorists. In Western cultures crying is the primary mode of communication through which the young infant’s needs and wants are expressed. The affective messages transmitted by the cry tell the caregivers that the infant needs attention, and in most cases crying is terminated when the infant’s needs are met. There are times, however, when the immediate cause of crying is not clear—socalled “unexplained fussiness”—when the infant cannot be easily soothed.

Relations Between Women's Depressive Symptoms and Perceptions of Infant Distress Signals Varying in Pitch

Fifteen nondepressed, 15 moderately depressed, and 15 severely depressed women rated tape-recordings of a newborn infants hunger cry digitally altered to increase in fundamental frequency in 100 Hz increments. Cries were rated on 4 perceptual (e.g., arousing-not arousing) and 6 caregiving rating scale items (e.g., cuddle, feed) used in previous studies (Zeskind, 1983). Analyses of variance showed that, as cry pitch increased, cries were rated as more arousing, aversive, urgent, and sick sounding. Highest pitched cries received highest levels of caregiving interventions. Severely depressed women rated cries as less perceptually salient and less likely to elicit active caregiving responses. Interaction effects showed that severely depressed women were least responsive to highest pitched cries. These results suggest that womens depression may alter perceptions of infant distress signals, especially at times of greater infant distress.

Brazelton scale and physical size correlates of neonatal cry features

Pain cries and Brazelton scale performance were studied in 40 on-to two-day-old neonates. Multiple regression analysis showed that poor performance on the Brazelton scale, plus a low ponderal index and short gestation, were associated with infant cries of short duration, a high fundamental frequency, a high maximum frequency, and fewer harmonics in the cry sound. It was suggested that certain cry features may be sensitive to central nervous system stress and reflect the risk status of the neonate.

Adult responses to cries of low and high risk infants

Thirty parents and 30 nonparents were asked to select on a questionnaire what they considered to be appropriate responses to taperecorded pain cries elicited from 16 2-day-old infants. Half of the cries were from healthy, low-risk infants, and half were from healthy infants at high risk due to high numbers of nonoptimal obstetric conditions. The cries from the high-risk infants elicited from parents, but not from nonparents, responses that were intended as more “tender and caring” and more “immediately effective at terminating the crying” than the cries from the low-risk infants. Similarly, responses by parents, but not by nonparents, to high-risk infant cries were more consistent than to low-risk infant cries. The classification of modal responses into functional categories showed that 21 of 30 parents gave contact-confort kinds of responses to the cries of high-risk infants, while none gave undirected responses. Although the differential cry features characteristic of the high-risk infant have traditionally been used to support the differential diagnosis of central nervious system pathology, these findings were interpreted to support a more functional perspective of the cries of the risk infant.

Child abusers' perceptual responses to newborn infant cries varying in pitch

Abstract Twenty abusive and 20 comparison parents rated three groups of infant cries that varied in the amount of high-pitched hyperphonation contained in the acoustic structure. Analyses showed that as the amount of hyperphonation increased across groups of cries, cries were rated by both groups of parents as more likely to lead to the future abuse of the infant. Abusive parents found hyperphonated cries, but not phonated cries, to be more similar to their own abused infants cries than comparison parents. Attributions regarding whether each cry was from an infant who had previously been abused were then experimentally manipulated and cries were rated on live perceptual scale items. Abusive and comparison parents found hyperphonated cries to be generally more distressing, sick, and urgent than cries with less hyperphonation. Attributing the cry to a previously abused infant, however, resulted in the infant being perceived as generally sounding more sick and less spoiled. Phonated and partially hyperphonated cries were regarded as more arousing and distressing when attributed to abused infants. Unlike comparison parents, abusive parents did not differentiate between phonated and partially hyperphonated cries on ratings of urgency but found hyperphonated cries to be particularly urgent. Crying is discussed as one part of the infants behavioral repertoire that may contribute to the development of physically abusive parent-infant interactions.

A Developmental Perspective of Infant Crying

Infant crying has great significance for many aspects of infant development and has thus been studied within a variety of contexts. In one context, crying is a salient social behavior of the newborn and young infant that influences the infant’s interactions with the caregiving environment. As such, researchers have examined the effects of crying on the responses of listeners (e.g., Frodi, Lamb, Leavitt, & Donovan, 1978) and the effects of those listeners’ responses on future expressions of crying (e.g., Bell & Ainsworth, 1972; Rheingold, Gewirtz, & Ross, 1959). Also within this context, investigators have examined variations in the expression of crying as they relate to different levels of infant arousal (e.g., Wolff, 1969) and different perceptions of why the infant is crying (e.g, Sherman, 1927). As a social behavior, we can study the development of crying as we would the development of other early social behaviors.

Neonatal facial coding system scores and spectral characteristics of infant crying during newborn circumcision

ObjectiveTo determine the relations between Neonatal Facial Coding System (NFCS) scores and measures of infant crying during newborn circumcision. MethodsVideo and audio recordings were made of infant facial activity and cry sounds, respectively, during the lysis phase of circumcisions of 44 healthy term males (<3 d of age). All infants received topical analgesia before circumcision. NFCS scores were determined by blinded assistant from video recordings of facial activity. Measures of infant crying were determined via spectrum analysis of audio recordings by a blinded, independent researcher. Pearson product-moment correlations were used to examine relationship between NFCS scores and measures of crying. Principal component factor analysis detected dimensions underlying related measures of crying. Factor scores from a factor analysis were used in stepwise linear regression to predict NFCS scores. ResultsHigher NFCS scores correlated with lower peak fundamental frequency of crying (P<0.01) and with higher amplitudes of crying at peak fundamental frequency and dominant frequency and in overall cry sample (P<0.01). The factor analysis showed 3 significant orthogonal dimensions underlying measures of crying: Power and Velocity (amplitude and rapidity), Pitch of Crying (frequency characteristics), and Infant Arousal (turbulence and intensity) accounting for 42.3%, 17.8%, and 14.6% of variance, respectively. A regression analysis showed all 3 factor scores accounted for significant and separate portions of variance (P<0.001). The best predictor of NFCS score was Power and Velocity (P<0.002), followed by Infant Arousal (P<0.002), and Pitch of Crying (P<0.007). DiscussionThese data provide some of the first known evidence linking specific measures of infant crying with an independent, validated measure of pain.

The Perceptions of Infant Distress Signals Varying in Pitch by Cocaine-Using Mothers

Perceptual responses to infant distress signals were studied in 16 cocaine-using and 15 comparison mothers. All mothers rated tape recordings of 48 replications of a newborn infants hunger cry digitally altered to increase in fundamental frequency in 100-Hz increments. Cries were rated on 4 perceptual (arousing, aversive, urgent, and sick) and 6 caregiving rating scale items (clean, cuddle, feed, give pacifier, pick up, and wait and see) used in previous studies. Analyses of variance showed that, as cry pitch increased, cries were rated as more arousing, aversive, and urgent sounding. The highest pitched cries received the highest ratings for caregiving interventions. Main effects for cocaine use showed cocaine-using mothers (a) rated cries as less arousing, aversive, urgent, and sick; (b) indicated they were less likely to pick up or feed the infant; and (c) indicated they more likely to give the crying infant a pacifier or just “wait and see.” A Group x Cry Pitch interaction effect showed that mothers in the cocaine group gave higher ratings to wait and see as the pitch of the cries increased, whereas mothers in the comparison group gave lower ratings to wait and see as the pitch of the cries increased. These ratings indicate that cocaine-using mothers found cries to be less perceptually salient and less likely to elicit nurturant caregiving responses. These results suggest that maternal cocaine use is associated with altered perceptions of infant distress signals that may provide the basis for differential social responsivity in the caregiving context.

Cry analysis detects subclinical effects of prenatal alcohol exposure in newborn infants

The threshold, latency, and peak fundamental frequency (basic pitch) of crying were sensitive to the subclinical effects of prenatal alcohol exposure through the first month of postnatal life. Whereas infants with prenatal alcohol exposure showed a lower cry pitch and higher cry threshold at 2 days of age, higher pitched cries, typical of nervous system insult, were evident at 14 and 28 days. A longer latency was also evident at 14 days.