Discrete responses of adult subjects during exposure to infant cry sequences

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Abstract
Infant crying was investigated in playback experiments by presenting cry sequences [duration up to 3.5 minutes] to adult subjects, who rated the sequences [1] simultaneously with the presentation, by giving optional numbers of discrete responses which were recorded on‐line ["DOL‐response"], and [2] subsequently to the playback, by completing questionnaires [post‐hoc judgement]. The DOL‐responses, summarized for about 55 subjects, were distributed over the whole sequences forming distinct accumulations at various positions. The distribution profiles differed between individual sequences [Figure 1] but were significant for each of them [Figure 2]. The comparison of the two sampling methods gave evidence that the post‐hoc judgements referred mainly to the last 25 seconds instead of covering the whole sequence [Figure 3, Table 1]. DOL‐responses were found to be a useful tool to quantify the judgement of cry features at any position of a sequence. It can be concluded [a] that different sequential units of a crying process affect the listener differently and [b] that accumulations of DOL‐responses may indicate sequential units of communicative relevance between infant and caregiver.

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