ATTENTION-GRABBING VOCAL SIGNALS - IMPACT ON INFORMATION-PROCESSING AND EXPECTATIONS

Adults listened to children's verbalizations that differed in fundamen tal frequency (f(O)) or pitch, a vocal quality that has potential atte ntion-eliciting properties. Undergraduate women listened to child mess ages in anticipation of a teaching interaction. As predicted, higher r ecall was shown. for child messages accompanied by high f(O) than low f(O); this advantage was, however, limited to younger children. Additi onally, listeners showed differential expectations for their teaching success on the combined basis of child f(O) and their own perceptions of perceived social control (PC). As predicted, low-PC teachers expect ed that interactions with high-f(O) children would be relatively unsuc cessful, whereas interactions with low-f(O) children would be relative ly easy. Results are interpreted as reflecting differential reactions to the demands of dependent others based on cognitive representations of such relationships.