Infant Cries Rattle Adult Cognition.
The attention-grabbing quality of the infant cry is well recognized, but how the emotional valence of infant vocal signals affects adult cognition and cortical activity has heretofore been unknown. We examined the effects of two contrasting infant vocalizations (cries vs. laughs) on adult performanc...
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2016-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0154283&type=printable |
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| author | Joanna Dudek Ahmed Faress Marc H Bornstein David W Haley |
| author_facet | Joanna Dudek Ahmed Faress Marc H Bornstein David W Haley |
| author_sort | Joanna Dudek |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The attention-grabbing quality of the infant cry is well recognized, but how the emotional valence of infant vocal signals affects adult cognition and cortical activity has heretofore been unknown. We examined the effects of two contrasting infant vocalizations (cries vs. laughs) on adult performance on a Stroop task using a cross-modal distraction paradigm in which infant distractors were vocal and targets were visual. Infant vocalizations were presented before (Experiment 1) or during each Stroop trial (Experiment 2). To evaluate the influence of infant vocalizations on cognitive control, neural responses to the Stroop task were obtained by measuring electroencephalography (EEG) and event-related potentials (ERPs) in Experiment 1. Based on the previously demonstrated existence of negative arousal bias, we hypothesized that cry vocalizations would be more distracting and invoke greater conflict processing than laugh vocalizations. Similarly, we expected participants to have greater difficulty shifting attention from the vocal distractors to the target task after hearing cries vs. after hearing laughs. Behavioral results from both experiments showed a cry interference effect, in which task performance was slower with cry than with laugh distractors. Electrophysiology data further revealed that cries more than laughs reduced attention to the task (smaller P200) and increased conflict processing (larger N450), albeit differently for incongruent and congruent trials. Results from a correlation analysis showed that the amplitudes of P200 and N450 were inversely related, suggesting a reciprocal relationship between attention and conflict processing. The findings suggest that cognitive control processes contribute to an attention bias to infant signals, which is modulated in part by the valence of the infant vocalization and the demands of the cognitive task. The findings thus support the notion that infant cries elicit a negative arousal bias that is distracting; they also identify, for the first time, the neural dynamics underlying the unique influence that infant cries and laughs have on cognitive control. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-6c6b145ded054fb59bee088e926fc149 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2016-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj-art-6c6b145ded054fb59bee088e926fc1492025-08-20T02:15:45ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032016-01-01115e015428310.1371/journal.pone.0154283Infant Cries Rattle Adult Cognition.Joanna DudekAhmed FaressMarc H BornsteinDavid W HaleyThe attention-grabbing quality of the infant cry is well recognized, but how the emotional valence of infant vocal signals affects adult cognition and cortical activity has heretofore been unknown. We examined the effects of two contrasting infant vocalizations (cries vs. laughs) on adult performance on a Stroop task using a cross-modal distraction paradigm in which infant distractors were vocal and targets were visual. Infant vocalizations were presented before (Experiment 1) or during each Stroop trial (Experiment 2). To evaluate the influence of infant vocalizations on cognitive control, neural responses to the Stroop task were obtained by measuring electroencephalography (EEG) and event-related potentials (ERPs) in Experiment 1. Based on the previously demonstrated existence of negative arousal bias, we hypothesized that cry vocalizations would be more distracting and invoke greater conflict processing than laugh vocalizations. Similarly, we expected participants to have greater difficulty shifting attention from the vocal distractors to the target task after hearing cries vs. after hearing laughs. Behavioral results from both experiments showed a cry interference effect, in which task performance was slower with cry than with laugh distractors. Electrophysiology data further revealed that cries more than laughs reduced attention to the task (smaller P200) and increased conflict processing (larger N450), albeit differently for incongruent and congruent trials. Results from a correlation analysis showed that the amplitudes of P200 and N450 were inversely related, suggesting a reciprocal relationship between attention and conflict processing. The findings suggest that cognitive control processes contribute to an attention bias to infant signals, which is modulated in part by the valence of the infant vocalization and the demands of the cognitive task. The findings thus support the notion that infant cries elicit a negative arousal bias that is distracting; they also identify, for the first time, the neural dynamics underlying the unique influence that infant cries and laughs have on cognitive control.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0154283&type=printable |
| spellingShingle | Joanna Dudek Ahmed Faress Marc H Bornstein David W Haley Infant Cries Rattle Adult Cognition. PLoS ONE |
| title | Infant Cries Rattle Adult Cognition. |
| title_full | Infant Cries Rattle Adult Cognition. |
| title_fullStr | Infant Cries Rattle Adult Cognition. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Infant Cries Rattle Adult Cognition. |
| title_short | Infant Cries Rattle Adult Cognition. |
| title_sort | infant cries rattle adult cognition |
| url | https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0154283&type=printable |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT joannadudek infantcriesrattleadultcognition AT ahmedfaress infantcriesrattleadultcognition AT marchbornstein infantcriesrattleadultcognition AT davidwhaley infantcriesrattleadultcognition |