Recent research suggests that whining plays an important role in attachment relationships because it appears to elicit the attention of caregivers better than other vocalizations. Whining consists of language presented in a characteristic acoustic structure: increased pitch, slowed production, and varied pitch contours when compared to other types of speech (Sokol, Webster, Thompson, & Stevens, 2005). This structure is shared by motherese, and, to a lesser extent, infant cries. The latter two vocalizations are well known to elicit attention from attachment partners. Whining seems to be a powerful distraction, more distracting to listeners than machine noise and neutral speech (Sokol, Lescak, & Thompson, accepted). However, no direct measure of the capacity of whining to attract attention has yet been made. The current study pairs a classic test of auditory attention, dichotic listening, with tests of physiological responses to whining and motherese. While being physiologically monitored, participants shadowed the "attended" track of a two channel recording. Each channel was a different passage being read by the same person in a neutral tone of voice. While repeating the story in the "attended" track, participants attempted to ignore the secondary "non-attended" track, which proceeds in a neutral tone interrupted by a continuation of the passage spoken as either a whine or motherese. If whining and motherese are important to attachment relationships, both should attract the attention of listeners more than the neutral segments of the "non-attended" track, as measured by the ability of participants to recognize words unique to the whining and motherese segments in a test after the dichotic listening task, physiological changes during the whining and motherese segments, and disruption of shadowing of the "attended" track. Participants, regardless of gender or parental status, did make more mistakes in repetition when presented with whines in the "non-attended" track, and showed increases in Galvanic skin response when presented with whines and motherese. However, participants remembered more words from the "attended" track when presented with whines and motherese in the "non-attended" track. Whines play a role in altering the attention of listeners. That whines, cries, and motherese all exploit a similar acoustic structure, and all three are well-suited at getting the attention of listeners, would imply that humans all share a common auditory sensitivity to the shared acoustic features of these vocalizations.
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