Did you know that crying babies have the ability to control parents' attention spans? Well, a team of researchers from University of Toronto Scarborough found that a baby's cry reduces attention and triggers greater cognitive conflict processing.
How A Baby's Cry Affect Adult Cognitive Functions
Based on the recent study published in the journal PLOS ONE, researchers discovered that crying babies have the ability to rattle an adult's executive functions, which are the neural and cognitive processes necessary in making daily decisions. By analyzing the effect of infant vocalizations, researchers also found baby cries reduce task attention and trigger cognitive conflict processing compared to infant laughs.
"Parents are constantly making a variety of everyday decisions and have competing demands on their attention," study lead author Joanna Dudek said, as per NewsOK. "They may be in the middle of doing chores when the doorbell rings and their child starts to cry. How do they stay calm, cool and collected, and how do they know when to drop what they're doing and pick up the child?"
Importance Of Cognitive Conflict Processing
Study coauthor and University of Toronto Scarborough Psychology associate professor David Haley said cognitive conflict processing is significant because it controls attention. Haley, who also runs University of Toronto's Parent-Infant Research Lab, also said an infant's cry activates the cognitive conflict in the brain, which could teach parents to focus their attention more selectively.
"If an infant's cry activates cognitive conflict in the brain, it could also be teaching parents how to focus their attention more selectively," Haley said, Science Daily quotes.
The Power Of Parental Instinct
The findings also suggest that babies occupy a "privileged status" in an adult's neurobiological setup, which means an infant's cry could trigger someone's ability to respond to a child's distress or simply one's parental instinct. Haley also added the study reveals a vital adaptive cognitive function in the human brain.
"It's this cognitive flexibility that allows parents to rapidly switch between responding to their baby's distress and other competing demands in their lives which, paradoxically, may mean ignoring the infant momentarily," Haley told University of Toronto Scarborough.
Haley added a baby's cry turns on the cognitive control parents use in effectively responding to their child's emotional needs while also addressing other demands in everyday life. However, understanding a baby's cry is quite tough.
Understanding A Baby's Cry
Understanding an infant's cry is no easy job for parents. The reason? Every baby sounds different and it sometimes requires attentive listening so parents can comprehend what their babies want.
Babies also cry for different reasons. According to WebMD, infants cry because of hunger, tiredness and discomfort. They also cry when they're feeling sick, frustrated or lonely and when they're using tears to talk.
So, are crying babies really controlling? Share your thoughts below and follow Parent Herald for more news and updates.
