Reviews Greenough, Black, and Wallace's (1987) conceptual framework for understanding the effects of early experience and sensitive periods on development, and illustrates the applicability of their model with recent data on the consequences for animals and human infants of the acquistion of self-produced locomotion. (BN)

The role of experience in the developing brain is considered. A categorization scheme based upon the type of information stored and the brain mechanisms involved in storing the information is proposed. Experience-expectant and experience-dependent information storage are differentiated. (BN)

Recent studies on the biological development of the prefrontal cortex in rhesus monkeys are reviewed. These studies have elucidated the basic neural circuitry underlying the delayed-response function in adult nonhuman primates and suggest that a critical mass of cortical synapses is important for the emergence of this cognitive function. (BN)

Three self-report methods for rating secondary sexual characteristic growth were compared to physician ratings; the accuracy of self-reported height and weight was also assessed. The usefulness of the Pubertal Development Scale, Tanner ratings, and self-reported height and weight as adequate estimates of pubertal development is discussed. (PCB)

The developmental pattern of concurrent synaptogenesis in rhesus monkeys is consistent with a straightforward model of relations between brain and cognitive development. Concurrent synaptogenesis is hypothesized to lay the primary cortical foundation for a series of developmental levels in middle infancy that have been empirically documented in…

Studied the sleep state organization and EEG patterns at term date in 53 preterm infants as an index of the maturity and integrity of neurophysiological organization that may have implications for their later development. (HOD)