There are two broad views of children's theory of mind. The mentalist view is that it emerges in infancy and is possibly innate. The minimalist view is that it emerges more gradually in childhood and is heavily dependent on learning. According to minimalism, children initially understand behaviors rather than mental states, and they are assisted…

Fragmented sleep is common in infancy. Although night awakening is known to decrease with age, in some infants night awakening is more persistent and continues into older ages. However, the influence of fragmented sleep on development is poorly known. In the present study, the longitudinal relationship between fragmented sleep and psychomotor…

IN EXPERIMENT 1, DEVELOPMENTAL CHANGES IN THE PROSODIC FEATURES OF INFANT VOCALIZING WERE STUDIED WITH NOVEL ELECTRO-ACOUSTIC TECHNIQUES. COMPLETE AND CONTINUOUS RECORDINGS OF ALL THE VOCALIZATIONS OF TWO INFANTS DURING THE FIRST FIVE MONTHS OF LIFE WERE COLLECTED AND SYSTEMATICALLY SAMPLED FOR ANALYSIS. COMPOSITE STATISTICS, DESCRIBING THE THREE…

The behavior of a preverbal infant was analyzed in a search for orderly and systematic patterns. Basic elements of the infant's repertoire were distinguished. A comparison was made between the nonverbal and those verbal structures which appear early. (Author/RM)

This paper offers some ideas on the types of behavior that can be considered precursors to language and that also lay the foundations for logic, mathematics, physics, etc. The paper posits the problem of whether a theory of language must be formulated before one can formulate a theory of language acquisition, or whether the reverse is true. The…