Babies’ crying the best call to action, research finds

THE sound of babies crying is uniquely able to get adults to react at speed, British scientists have found.

A study by Oxford University researchers using the classic arcade game “whack-a-mole” found that adults’ responses were swifter when they were listening to babies crying, compared to hearing sounds of adults in distress or twittering birds.

“The improvements in speed and dexterity may reflect an evolved response that kicks in when an immediate reaction to a baby in distress is required. It is not hard to see how this could facilitate care-giving behaviour,” said Morten Kringelbach of Oxford’s psychiatry department, who led the study.