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Studies and reports concerning human crying are largely restricted to crying and weeping in the infant, rather than crying in the adolescent or in the adult. Although the literature is disappointingly scant, it can be concluded that even general agreement regarding the phenomenon of crying is largely absent.
In studying the problem further, it soon becomes apparent that infant crying is intimately associated with infant and fetal growth, movement, and motility.
The rhythmic beating of the primitive heart is the first reported movement in the embryo. This heart response is at first purely muscular, and nervous control of the heart cells does not appear until later. The rhythmic contractions of human heart cells begin during the third week of life in the region later to be called the ventricular area. 70 Electrical recordings of the fetal heart and electroencephalograms of the fetal skull have both been recorded by Lindsey 47. The latter records were made by placing electrodes on the mother's abdomen immediately over the fetal head.
In a fetus of about 71/2 weeks, a research team observed true receptor-released response. It is possible, but not clearly demonstrated, that fetuses as young as 6 weeks have been observed to move. 20 Hooker noted that after the 16th week, the fetus showed a marked