Nature Communications上发表的一项研究表明，父亲在识别自己孩子哭声方面可以跟母亲一样好。这些发现与人们普遍所持观点是相悖的，即母亲在识别其婴儿声音方面要比父亲好。
父母能够识别其子女哭声不同特点的能力，在促进“适应性关爱”的提供方面起一定作用。据有关母性本能的假设，母亲在执行这些任务时应当比父亲更好。然而，以前的研究要么完全聚焦于母亲，要么未对父母中的一方与其孩子相处时间的多少进行对照。Nicolas Mathevon及其同事用来自法国和刚果民主共和国的人类研究对象进行了一项对照研究，具体做法是：评估父母根据他们自己孩子的哭声与相同年龄的其他孩子的哭声的差别来识别自己孩子的能力。他们发现，父亲和母亲都能从哭声识别出自己的孩子来，他们在这方面的能力是一样的，而且影响这种努力的惟一关键因素是父母与自己孩子相处的时间多少。
作者的结论是：在决定父母中的一方根据哭声识别自己孩子的能力中重要的是经验，而不是特定性别的先天本领。他们希望，这项研究将为确定其他更多的变量怎样影响识别能力、以及它们对父母双方的影响是否相似提供一个基础。（生物谷Bioon.com）
The Lancet, doi:10.1038/ncomms2713
Fathers are just as good as mothers at recognizing the cries of their baby
Erik Gustafsson,Florence Levréro,David Reby& Nicolas Mathevon
Previous investigations of parents’ abilities to recognize the cries of their own babies have identified substantial and significant sex differences, with mothers showing greater correct recognition rates than fathers. Such sex differences in parenting abilities are common in non-human mammals and usually attributed to differential evolutionary pressures on male and female parental investment. However, in humans the traditional concept of ‘maternal instinct’ has received little empirical support and is incongruous given our evolutionary past as cooperative breeders. Here we use a controlled experimental design to show that both fathers and mothers can reliably and equally recognize their own baby from their cries, and that the only crucial factor affecting this ability is the amount of time spent by the parent with their own baby. These results highlight the importance of exposure and learning in the development of this ability, which may rely on shared auditory and cognitive abilities rather than sex-specific innate predispositions.
