Research on perceptual and cognitive capacities of the newborn has revealed that state variables typically interfere with or override the neonate's attentional and stimulus processing tendencies. This finding argues for the power of early state variables as behavioral determinants and, further, that neonatal state measures might provide good…

The behavior of the infant with prenatal drug exposure (PDE) is different from a nonexposed infant, and it is a difference that changes the rules of interaction for the caregiver. Infants exposed to opiates such as heroin or methadone demonstrate very specific signs of neurobehavioral dysfunction as they go through classic withdrawal symptoms.…

This article reviews 46 experimental studies on behavioral and developmental outcomes associated with prenatal exposure to illicit drugs. Only half of the 460 individual outcomes significantly indicated adverse effects of prenatal exposure. The greatest number of these outcomes was for infants younger than one month, with relatively few outcomes…