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Challenging infant-directed singing as a credible signal of maternal attention

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 September 2021

Sandra E. Trehub Open the ORCID record for Sandra E. Trehub [Opens in a new window]
Sandra E. Trehub*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, ONL5L 1C6, Canada. [email protected]
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Abstract

I challenge Mehr et al.'s contention that ancestral mothers were reluctant to provide all the attention demanded by their infants. The societies in which music emerged likely involved foraging mothers who engaged in extensive infant carrying, feeding, and soothing. Accordingly, their singing was multimodal, its rhythms aligned with maternal movements, with arousal regulatory consequences for singers and listeners.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 44 , 2021 , e117
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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