Can newborns discriminate between their own cry and the cry of another newborn infant?

Abstract

Two experiments were conducted to test whether newborns could discriminate between their own cry and
\nthe cry of another newborn infant. Facial behavior and nonnutritive sucking rate were adopted as
\ndependent measures. In Experiment 1, 20 newborns in an awake state were presented with either their
\nown cry or the cry of another infant. In the latter condition, newborns showed the facial expression of
\ndistress more frequently and for a longer duration. In addition, the rate of sucking decreased significantly
\nbetween the pretest phase and the 1st min of presentation of another infant's cry. Newboms' responses,
\nalthough delayed and less intense, showed a similar trend in Experiment 2, during which 20 newborns
\nin a sleep state were tested with the same procedure. These results indicate the newborns' capability to
\ndiscriminate between the 2 cry stimuli and show the effectiveness of a newborn cry in inducing distress
\nsignals in another newborn infant.