Individual differences in infant attention are theorized to reflect the speed of information processing and are related to later cognitive abilities (i.e., memory, language, and intelligence). This study provides the first systematic longitudinal analysis of infant attention and early childhood executive function (EF; e.g., working memory,…

Bruner's (1973) review of infant skill development is updated and extended by (a) placing it in the context of recent motor learning research; (b) discussing the concept of efference in its most recent conceptualization; and (c) explicating certain implicit themes relevant to a theory of infant motor intelligence. (ED)

Habituation to single female faces and to single geometric patterns was observed separately in two groups of infants who participated in two sessions separated by 10 days. Habituation was found to be distributed into three patterns and showed moderate but significant reliability between assessment sessions. (Author/RH)

Factor scores from Bayley's Infant Behavior Record (obtained from 300 to 400 infants at six, 12, 18, and 24 months) were selected to represent three aspects of infant behavior: task orientation, test affect-extraversion, and activity. Findings indicate reordering of individual differences is age-related and that the reordering sequence is somewhat…

Data support three conclusions: (1) that notable individual differences in the interaction patterns of mothers and Down syndrome children exist, (two) that maternal directiveness and sensitivity are separable dimensions of maternal style, and (3) that individual differences in mother/child interaction patterns may be related to mental development…

Explored relation between temperament and cardiac vagal tone in 12-week olds. Found that infants with higher baseline vagal tone showed fewer negative behaviors in the laboratory and were less disrupted by experimental procedures than infants with lower baselines. Infants who decreased cardiac vagal tone during assessments were rated by mothers as…

Indicates that the Bayley Scales are a useful assessment tool for characterizing the behavior of premature infants. Results further indicate the need for going beyond summary scores of mental and motor performance and assessing performance in specific areas to obtain a more meaningful picture of individual infants' development. (RH)

Investigates the predictability of cognitive differences at 12 months from infant and maternal behaviors at 4 months. Overall, the results show that some individual differences in cognition may be predictable across the first year of life. (Author/RH)

Examined relations between reactivity (peak response) and regulation (response dampening) in 6-month-olds' cortisol and behavioral responses to inoculation. Found that reactivity and regulation were unrelated for both cortisol and behavior, suggesting both measures are needed to characterize more accurately infant response to stress. Found…

Studied 112 preterm infants to determine developmental changes and stability of individual differences. Results indicate significant developmental gains with age, and highly significant individual stability of performance across age. (RJC)

In a laboratory procedure, 66 infants of 12 months were given happy, fearful, and conflicting emotional signals by their mothers and fathers with reference to five unusual toy stimuli. There were marked differences among infants in their capacity for and style of coping with conflict. A variety of specific responses to conflict were observed. (RH)

Data indicate that the interventions provided differed in their effectiveness in calming newborns to a highly significant degree. (Authors)

Used multilevel analyses to examined the amounts of time infants spent asleep, awake, content, feeding, fussing, and crying at 2, 6, 12, and 40 weeks of age. Found that day-to-day fluctuations accounted for between 44 and 53% of the variance in amounts of time sleeping, fussing, and crying. (MDM)