The behavior of newborns is ambiguous. Cultural models--representations shared by members of a community--provide new parents and others with a cognitive and motivational structure to understand them. This study asks members of several cultural groups (total n = 100) to judge the "similarity" of behavioral items in the Neonatal…

Introduction: Although recent research has focused on the effects of maternal eating disorders (EDs) on children, little is known about the effect of maternal EDs on neurobiological outcomes in newborns and infants. This study is the first to investigate neurobehavioural regulation and cognitive development in newborns and infants of mothers with…

Examines the effect of nutritional supplementation provided to mothers during pregnancy and lactation on the mental and motor development of their infants. While neither sex nor mental differences could be attributed to supplementation, motor development in infants was affected. (Author/MP)

Evaluated in three experiments a dynamic systems theory account of perseverative errors on "A-not-B" task. Found that 9-month-olds perseverated when reaching for identical targets, but made nonperseverative responses when reaching in the presence of a highly distinctive B target. Reach direction was jointly determined by target's…

Examined infants' ability to retrieve an object from atop a slightly larger object. Found that even 5-month-olds could retrieve objects close in size and fully contiguous with their bases when demands on reaching skill were reduced. Proposed that when they fail this task, it is because they lack the skill to reach the top object without…

Reports on a portion of a long-term investigation carried out to determine the prognostic significance of newborn behavioral assessments for later development and behavior, in terms of identifying a subpopulation which would be a high risk group. (Author/SDH)

This interim report is part of a longitudinal study of developmental behavior designed to determine whether infants from culturally disadvantaged homes have different developmental patterns than infants from advantaged homes. Twenty six culturally disadvantaged infants were individually evaluated on the Bayley Scale of Infant Mental and Motor…

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…

This study examined the interaction between infant behavior and maternal ethnocentric attitudes and expectations. The ethnomethodological approach used in this study was guided by the assumption that it is essential for an investigator to consider the broad cultural context in which behavior is studied. The behavior of 80 African-American neonates…

Noting that maternal depression is common during a baby's first year, this study examined the interaction of depressed and non-depressed mother-child dyads. A sample of 26 first-time mothers with postpartum depression at the third month after birth and their 3-month-old infants was compared to a sample of 25 first-time mothers with no postpartum…

This study examined behavioral development during the first year of life of 41 infants diagnosed with cerebral palsy, hypotonia, or hypertonia. The KID Scale, an empirically normed, caregiver-report inventory which covers behavior in five domains (cognitive, motor, language, self help, and social) was administered at about 5, 9, and 12 months…

The behavioral development of rural Guatemalan infants was assessed shortly after birth on a Neonatal Assessment Scale (NAS) and at 6-, 15-, and 24-months-of-age on a Composite Infant Scale (CIS). Summary variables based on NAS performance poorly predicted later assessed performance even as recently as six months after birth. The CIS modestly…

For some time now, classroom teachers have encouraged quiet manners and docile servitude of children who attend school. There is evidence to support the notion that this type of environment is not necessarily the best for maximizing the learning potential of all children. A variety of research efforts indicate that American black children and…

This paper suggests a variety of learning experiences for parents to provide for their young children from birth to age 5. The introduction stresses the need for many kinds of verbal communication between parents and child and presents a discussion of crying behaviors and the importance of reading to children. Talking and listening activities are…

Information on infant growth and development from 9-12 months of age is presented in a self-instructional format. This illustrated booklet is part of a related curriculum on parenting and child development for school-age mothers. Infant emotional behavior, cognitive development, toilet training, walking and other motor skills, and perceptual…