Examined consistency in behavioral state organization for 30 fetuses and neonates. Assessed heart rate pattern and presence or absence of eye and gross body movements during sleep, finding quiet sleep (QS), active sleep (AS), and indeterminate states in nearly identical proportions. Duration of enclosed QS epochs provided only stable measure of…

Presents a developmental study of changes in infant attachment behaviors. Five groups of female infants, 8, 11, 14, 19, and 24 months of age, were observed during varying types of separation experiences. Changes in proximity behaviors and contact behaviors were analyzed. (BD)

Five studies are reported which examine the free vs. earned reward phenomenon in humans. The 420 subjects were distributed over all grade levels from preschool through college. Candies and coins were used as rewards. In preschool through sixth grade groups, black, as well as white subjects and experimenters were used. The California Psychological…

Used an event-based approach to study the nature of coordination in 3- and 6-month olds during interaction with their caregivers. Found that infants coordinated their vocalizations and facial actions more than expected by chance. When two communicative events were temporally associated across modalities, one event tended to be embedded within the…

Decribes age trends in television viewing time and visual attention of children and adults videotaped in their homes for 10-day periods. Shows that the increase in visual attention to television during the preschool years is consistent with the theory that television program comprehensibility is a major determinant of attention in young children.…

Parents (n=52) of blind and partially sighted infants and preschoolers were surveyed concerning the frequency of occurrence and stability of the children's stereotyped behaviors. Stereotyped behaviors frequently observed in blind children proved to be stable, whereas other stereotyped behaviors were less stable. Age of child and frequency of…

Seventy-five 4-, 6-, and 8-year olds participated in a study examining the relationship between children's awareness and use of strategies for self-control. Knowledge of strategies was more highly correlated with process than with performance, and the relationship between knowledge about strategies and actual performance increased with age. (AA)

Maintains that the "getting into shape" hypothesis of explaining the inverted-U distribution of exercise play across age is likely incorrect. Argues that the biological study of human physical activity play, as recommended by Pellegrini and Smith (1998), will reveal whether physical activity play represents an example of…

Fixation time, smiling, vocalization, and fret/cry were recorded to obtain a complete picture of infants' responses to facial stimuli over the first year of life. Four stimuli were presented to 120 infants. Results of fixation data indicate that (1) there is a marked decrease in fixation toward facial stimuli within the first year, (2) at all ages…