ADVANCING INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH IN SINGING

Emotion Regulation by Maternal Speech
and Singing
Niusha Ghazban, Ryerson University

 Emotion Regulation (ER)
• Caregivers play a critical role in regulating
infants’ emotions
• They use proximal and distal strategies to
alleviate infants’ distress
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Distraction (Harman et al., 1997)
Holding and touch (e.g., Stack & Arnold, 1998)
Rocking (Ter Vrugt & Pederson, 1973)
Vocalization (e.g., Jahromi et al., 2004)

 Parents’ ER Behaviours
• Provide infants with a model of emotion
regulation and positive social outcomes
• Promote the development of emotional selfregulation
• Focus in the present study was on maternal
speech and singing, which are universally
observed caregiving behaviours (Fernald & Simon,
1984; Fernald, 1991; Papousek & Papousek., 1987)

 Experiment 1: Singing vs. Speaking
• Infants look longer at AV samples of maternal
singing than speech (Nakata & Trehub, 2004).
• Maternal singing modulates infants’ cortisol levels
(Shenfield et al., 2003)

• Infants in those studies were contented. What
are the consequences of maternal speech and
singing for distressed infants?

 Experiment 1: Singing vs. Speaking
• The present study examined 10-month olds’
behavioural and physiological responses to
maternal speech and singing after an acute
stressor.
• Provided an opportunity to examine the efficacy
of maternal speech and singing in regulating
infants’ negative emotions.

 Experiment 1: Singing vs. Speaking
• Used modified version of the Face-to-Face-Still-Face
Paradigm

 Experiment 1: Singing vs. Speaking

 Experiment 1: Singing vs. Speaking

 Experiment 1: Summary
• Maternal singing was more effective than
speech in regulating the emotions of distressed
10-month olds
But…
• North American mothers sing more play songs
than lullabies
• Play songs to promote infant engagement
• Lullabies to promote sleep

 Experiment 2: Play Songs vs. Lullabies
• Here we compared the relative efficacy of maternal
play songs and lullabies in alleviating infants’
distress
• Method: FFSF paradigm
• Video

  Experiment 2: Play Songs vs. Lullabies

 Experiment 2: Play Songs vs. Lullabies

 Experiment 2: Summary
• Maternal play songs were more effective than lullabies
in regulating the emotions of distressed 10-month olds
• Play songs may work by distracting infants.
• They may be more familiar to these infants. Lullabies
may work better in other cultures or at night-time in
ours.
• The rhythms of play songs may induce some kind of
entrainment in infants.
• Further research is necessary to clarify these issues.

 Thank you
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Dr. Sandra Trehub (University of Toronto)
Dr. Frank Russo (Ryerson University)
Dr. Jean-Paul Boudreau (Ryerson University)
Sabrina Aimola
Natalie Ein
Support from the AIRS SSHRC MCRI [Advancing
Interdisciplinary Research in Singing] - directed by Dr.
Annabel J. Cohen is gratefully acknowledged