Communication and crying in newborns

Few studies have analysed newborns’ crying behaviour in relation to the communicative context. In the present study, duration, latency and dysphony of newborns’ cry were analysed in three different communicative conditions: absent, continuous and discontinuous tactile communication. Thirty newborns were randomly assigned to three tactile communicative procedures. Subsequently they were presented with two visual stimuli, face (social-stimulus) and square (non-social-stimulus). The study showed that newborns cried only during visual stimuli presentation both in absent and continuous communication conditions. Newborns with absent communication cried more, with shorter latency and more dysphony than newborns with continuous communication. No significant differences were found in duration, latency and dysphony of newborns’ cry between the two stimuli. Newborns in the discontinuous communicative condition did not cry either during tactile communication or during visual stimuli presentation. Different communicative contexts affected the newborns’ crying behaviour during stimuli presentation. Different interpretations are discussed here in order to explain the results.