If the sound of a baby crying leaves him with his face flushed, he is not just imagining things. A new study concluded that the cry of a baby, especially when it signals pain, – even causes an increase in heat in the face of adults, perhaps as a way of boosting us to act.
The screams of a baby are, in a way, purposelessly. Without language, crying is the best way a baby has to get help from his caregivers.
Vibrations emanating from a baby in intense suffering are literally more chaotic than the cries associated with light discomfort.
Pain cries are produced differently from other sounds that a baby emits: Contract the Toracic Boxpushing gusts of high pressure air through vocal cords to generate variable tones and dissonant sounds known to acoustic as “nonlinear phenomena” (NLP).
Caregivers usually get scarce of normal discomfort and those Lancinating screams with NLPS that signal intense pain, but it is not known for sure How does our body reach this cognitive effect more complex.
In a new study, a team of researchers at Jean Monnet University and the University of Saint-Étienne in France wanted to realize how these sounds affect the nervous system of adults to a subconscious level and what physiological effects cause.
According to the results of the, published last week in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface, The level of NLPs in a cry modulates the temporal dynamic of Listener Facial Thermal Responseregardless of your sex.
“It is established that NLP are reliable markers of the level of suffering and/or pain expressed by the baby,” says Bioacoustic Creatureresearcher at Jean Monnet University and first author of the study, quoted by.
In the course of the study, the researchers tested the reactions of 41 participants (21 men and 20 women, an average of 35 years) to the sounds of babies crying.
These adults Listened to a selection of 23 audio recordingscollected from 16 different babies while they felt the slight discomfort of a bath or the pain of a vaccine injection in the doctor’s office. While listening to the sounds, a thermal chamber monitored the Temperature changes on the face Two participants.
An increase in heat in this area of the body is an Rnervous system espos Autonomous, the most unconscious part of the nervous system that controls internal functions such as heart rhythm, breathing and digestion.
After listening to the sounds, participants also indicated whether they had heard signs of discomfort or pain.
According to the study authors, the Variations in facial temperature of a listener, as a marker of the Emotional response of the autonomous nervous systemreflect the Pain expressed in a baby’s cry.
A crying with higher levels of NLP caused a more intense flushing response on the listeners’ face, suggesting that these chaotic sounds are much more effective, at the physiological level, the capture the attention of adults than the cries with few or no NLP.
This crying response with high levels of NLP was observed in both male and female participants, reinforcing previous conclusions of investigators that both sexes can identify reliable signs of pain in a baby’s cry.
“Although our results are interesting and new, this study remains quite preliminary and raises several questionsboth in the interpretation of the data and from the methodological point of view, ”admit the authors of the study.
For example, participants had little or no experience With babies, so these results do not necessarily reflect the physiological response of experienced parents. Future studies may reveal how physiological responses to NLP differ depending on the experience of caregivers.
