MOTHERS AND FATHERS SINGING TO INFANTS

Mothers and fathers sang a song of their choice, once to their infant and once as if to their infant (simulated). The pitch of songs was hig her and the tempo slower for infant-directed than for simulated versio ns. Listeners varying in child-care experience, musical background, an d cultural origin reliably identified which of the two versions was in fant-directed (Experiment I). Identification accuracy was enhanced by musical training, knowledge of the singers' language and culture, and by greater pitch and tempo differences between versions. Other adult l isteners who rated the singer's emotional engagement assigned signific antly higher ratings to infant-directed than to simulated versions (Ex periment 2). Differences in pitch and tempo between both versions pred icted emotional engagement ratings. Finally, rating differences betwee n infant-directed and simulated versions were highly correlated with i dentification accuracy.