Healthcare Opportunity

The sound of babies crying can make adults react quickly with a unique, British scientists said on Tuesday.

A study by researchers at Oxford University who used the classic game “whack-a-mole” (which used a hammer to turn on lights or characters that look) revealed that adults’ responses were faster when they heard babies crying, sounds compared with adults in trouble or birds chirping.

“The improvements in speed and skill reflect an evolutionary response that is activated when an immediate response is required to babies in trouble. It is not difficult to see how this could facilitate the conduct of care “for children, said Morten Kringelbach of Oxford Department of Psychiatry.

Kringelbach’s team compared the records of 40 volunteers who played “whack-a-mole” after listening to various sounds, including crying babies, adult problems and birds singing.

The findings, published in the journal Acta Paediatrica, suggest that the cries of babies receive special attention, Kringelbach said.

“Few sounds cause a reaction as visceral as the cry of a baby,” the author said in a statement. “For example, it is almost impossible to ignore crying babies on planes (…) despite all the other noises and distractions around,” he said.

The scientists said their work was not purely an academic exercise, it could help researchers studying women with postpartum depression who may suffer from some kind of disruption in this response to a crying baby.

“The depression and postpartum depression that some people would not attend the a crying baby too. We are looking at whether interventions can change this, “says Kringelbach.