Infant cries convey both stable and dynamic information about age and identity.
Journal
Communications psychology
ISSN: 2731-9121
Titre abrégé: Commun Psychol
Pays: England
ID NLM: 9918716686206676
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
02 Oct 2023
02 Oct 2023
Historique:
received:
23
11
2022
accepted:
31
08
2023
medline:
7
9
2024
pubmed:
7
9
2024
entrez:
6
9
2024
Statut:
epublish
Résumé
What information is encoded in the cries of human babies? While it is widely recognized that cries can encode distress levels, whether cries reliably encode the cause of crying remains disputed. Here, we collected 39201 cries from 24 babies recorded in their homes longitudinally, from 15 days to 3.5 months of age, a database we share publicly for reuse. Based on the parental action that stopped the crying, which matched the parental evaluation of cry cause in 75% of cases, each cry was classified as caused by discomfort, hunger, or isolation. Our analyses show that baby cries provide reliable information about age and identity. Baby voices become more tonal and less shrill with age, while individual acoustic signatures drift throughout the first months of life. In contrast, neither machine learning algorithms nor trained adult listeners can reliably recognize the causes of crying.
Identifiants
pubmed: 39242685
doi: 10.1038/s44271-023-00022-z
pii: 10.1038/s44271-023-00022-z
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Pagination
26Informations de copyright
© 2023. The Author(s).
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