SYNOPSIS

Infants’ crying modulates parental behaviors, which in turn, ideally, lead to calming the infant. The mutually beneficial reciprocity between infants’ and parents’ behaviors is conserved across mammalian species. Although some studies highlight similarities in responses to infant cries across gender, other studies report differences in their behaviors and brain activity. Zeifman and colleagues in this Special Issue found that high levels of infant crying can trigger increases in testosterone in men, which is accompanied by less sensitive caregiving. Some interpret males’ lack of sensitive caregiving as neglectful, but these results could be considered as evolutionarily adaptive. Specifically, increases in testosterone levels from intense infant cries could lead to increased vigilance and alertness toward external stimuli, and thus allow males to be better equipped to protect their young.

概要

婴儿的哭泣会影响父母的行为，理想情况下又可以使婴儿保持镇静。婴儿和父母的行为之间的互惠互利在整个哺乳动物物种中都得到了保留。尽管一些研究强调了不同性别对婴儿啼哭的反应相似，但其他研究报告了其行为和大脑活动的差异。Zeifman及其同事在此特刊中发现，婴儿啼哭次数过高会触发男性睾丸激素的升高，并伴有敏感性降低。有些人将男性缺乏灵敏的照料视为疏忽，但这些结果可以被认为是进化适应性的。具体来说，婴儿强烈的哭声会导致睾丸激素水平升高，从而导致人们对外界刺激的警惕性和警觉性增强，