Psychophysiological reactions of 60 women to an infant's cry and to a control sound were investigated. The 30-s cry stimulus evoked greater cardiac and electrodermal activity than did the control stimulus, although selected groups varied in the nature and extent of their reactions. Women who had given birth recently showed cardiac acceleration to the initial cry bursts, then decelerated during a pause in stimulation, and accelerated again during the final cry segment. Similar reactions were shown by pregnant women who heard the cry after the control stimulus, whereas those pregnant women who heard the cry first (and who as a group had a somewhat higher basal heart rate) showed deceleration to the cry. Women who were not pregnant responded with deceleration, followed by a return to baseline level. Within the pregnant and nonpregnant groups, women who had child-rearing experience showed greater arousal during the last 15 s of cry stimulation than did those without such experience. Thus, both maternal state and experience with infants affected women's reactions to an infant cry.

No abstract