In three studies of infants' ability to perceive partially occluded objects with specific appearances, a screen alternately uncovered and covered either a connected or interrupted rectangle. Pattern of infants' looking times suggests that they perceive the unity of the partially occluded object by 6.5 months but did not perceive the form of the…

Findings reveal that memory retrieval at six months of age is highly specific to the setting in which the memory is acquired. This suggests that infants learn what events are associated with what places before they are able to locomote independently and acquire a spatiotemporal map of the relations between those places. (RH)

Twenty-two infants (6.7 to 12.3 months old) were tested on a visual-cliff apparatus both crawling and in a walker. Results suggest a maturation-based explanation of cliff-avoidance in infants. (CM)

Examined changes in cortisol and behavioral responses in 83 infants. Found that salivary cortisol responses before and after inoculation were high at 2 months, decreased between 2 and 4 months, remained stable, then declined again between 6 and 15 months. Found some evidence that emergence of circadian rhythm in cortisol might be related to early…

Children at 12, 18, 24, and 30 months of age were observed in same-age, same-sex dyads while they attempted to solve a simple cooperation problem. Each child was given an elicited imitation task that was used to index decentration. Although no dyad of 12 month olds could cooperate, 24 and 30 month olds could coordinate behavior quickly and…

Results indicated that the more frequently the children studied expressed emotion, the older the age of language achievements; and the more time spent in neutral affect, the younger the age of language achievements. (PCB)

Investigated genetic change and continuity within the domains of temperament, emotion, and cognition and language for 200 pairs of twins assessed at 14 and 20 months of age. Correlations of measures at the two ages indicated that individual differences in the second year of life showed greater change than continuity on most measures. (MDM)

Examined Bowlby's proposition that early experiences and the adaptations to which they give rise influence later development, even beyond the influence of current circumstances or very recent adaptation. Groups whose adaptation were similar during preschool years but consistently different earlier were defined and compared. Results supported…

Relations among age appearance, facial attractiveness, and adult expectations of infants' developmental maturity were examined in three studies. Adults judged unattractive infants to be older and capable of more specific developmental skills than attractive infants but rated their general competence to be lower. (BC)

Focuses on definition of sensitivity, developmental changes in sensitivity, and clinical implications of attachment. Maintains that promptness, consistency, and appropriateness are the main components of sensitivity across parenting dimensions. Suggests that studying infant antecedents to attachment security is equally important to that of parent…

Maintains that the preceding studies extend a long line of research demonstrating the coherence of individual development in attachment security. Notes that the studies clarify that attachment security can be stable from infancy through early adulthood and that changes in security are meaningfully related to changes in the family environment.…

Experimental group mothers reported significantly greater self-confidence and satisfaction with mothering and more favorable perception of infant temperament than did control group mothers. Differences between children on cognitive scores became significant at 36 and 48 months of age, when the experimental group caught up with normal children. (RH)

To determine the impact of quantitative and qualitative aspects of fathering, relationships among father involvement in childrearing, parenting characteristics, and child adaptation were investigated. Results from 70 infants 20 months of age and their parents highlighted the salience of qualitative characteristics of parenting for toddler…

Maintains that advances in the literature on perception-action development suggests that tool use may be a more continuous developmental achievement than previously believed. Suggests new research directions, including efforts to investigate the processes by which children detect and relate affordances between objects, coordinate spatial frames of…

Suggests future directions for study of sensitivity and its impact on early psychosocial development: (1) renewed attention to growth of attachment in context of other developing features of the parent-child relationship; (2) factors that moderate impact of sensitivity on developing security; (3) origins of individual differences in sensitivity;…