Baby cry recognition is independent of motherhood but improved by experience and exposure

Neurobiological changes affecting new mothers are known to support the
development of the mother-infant relationship (the “maternal brain”).
However, which aspects of parenting are actually mother-specific and which
rely on general cognitive abilities remains debated. For example, refuting
earlier findings, a recent study demonstrated that fathers identify their
own baby from their cries just as well as mothers. Here we show that this
performance is not only independent of sex, but also of parenthood status.
We found that mothers’ ability to recognize their newborn from their cries
increased rapidly within few days postpartum, with highly multiparous
mothers performing better. However, both male and female nonparents could
similarly recognize an assigned baby, even after a very short exposure. As
in mothers, both the initial amount of experimental exposure to the baby’s
cries (learning opportunity) and prior experience of caring for infants
(auditory expertise) affected participants’ performance. We thus suggest
that, rather than being female-specific or motherhood-dependent, the
ability to recognise a baby from their cries derives from general auditory
and learning skills. By being available to nonparents of both sexes it may
contribute to the caregiving flexibility required for efficient
cooperative breeding in humans.