What Babies’ Cries Really Mean – And Why Maternal Instinct Is A Myth

New research shows parents cannot determine why a baby is crying from the sound of the cry itself. A new study analyzed 3,600 hours of recordings from 24 infants. Researchers logged nearly 40,000 cry sounds and compared them against soothing actions by parents. Artificial intelligence trained on the recordings performed no better than chance, with an accuracy rate of 36%. Human listeners did not do better, scoring about 35%. The study found cries reliably communicate two things only: the infant’s unique vocal identity and the level of distress. The study author says understanding a cry depends on context, not instinct. “The ability to decode cries is not innate; it is learned through exposure,” he explained. (Story URL)