Introduction: This article examines regulatory behaviors and physiological stress reactivity among 6-15 month-old infants with moderate to heavy prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE), a group at very high risk for fetal alcohol spectrum disorders and self-regulation impairments, compared to low risk infants with no/low exposure. Participants: Eighteen…

Quantifies behavioral periodicities or cycles during face-to-face interaction between three- and five-month-old term and preterm infants and their mothers. Compares the temporal organization of social interaction between term and preterm infants. Spectral and cross-spectral techniques showed the existence of periodicities. Differences were found…

Compares the responses of 14 child abusers and a matched group of nonabusers to videotapes of crying and smiling infants. Psychophysiological and subjective self-report measures were taken. (SS)

Regardless of birthweight, ventilated infants received the lowest ratings for overall performance on the Infant Behavior Record. Ventilated newborns of very low birthweight were more likely to receive ratings characterizing an overly active infant with a short attention span, and never-ventilated infants of very low birthweight were most likely to…

Twenty-four mothers were trained to record emotional incidents involving their toddlers. Reports of disciplinary encounters were analyzed in terms of (1) the types of discipline used and children's responses to that discipline and (2) the relationship between compliance/noncompliance and type of misdeed. Love withdrawal was shown to be a highly…

Investigated 4-month-olds' responsiveness to others' affective expressions in the context of a peekaboo game. Found differential patterns of visual attention and affective responsiveness to happiness/surprise, anger, fear, and sadness. Findings underscore importance of contextual information for facilitating recognition of emotion expressions and…

Evaluated respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and heart period in 5-month-olds during interaction challenges. Found that during object-mediated challenge, RSA increases were uniquely related to positive engagement. During person-mediated challenge, subjects showed more complex integration of autonomic and behavioral responses such that only infants…

Explored 14- and 18-month olds' ability to identify the target of the experimenter's emotional display of happiness or disgust in response to something seen or felt inside a box. Findings suggested that, regardless of age, infants used the experimenter's attentional cues to interpret her emotional signals and behaved as if they understood that she…

Observed weekly 13 infants from 1 to 6 months of age to determine when they produced different types of smiling and other facial expressions. Found that the cheek-raise and open-mouth dimensions of smiling appear to be associated with, respectively, amplification of processes of sharing positive affect and of visual engagement present to a lesser…

Mothers whose infants varied in early biological characteristics (born at term, n = 120; born at very low birth weight [VLBW], n = 144) were randomized to a target group (n = 133) or developmental feedback comparison group (n = 131) to determine whether learning responsive behaviors would facilitate infant development. The target condition…

Irritability levels and activity reactivity to aversive tactile stimuli were compared for 144 full-term neonates and 191 preterm infants. Irritability ratings increased across the five trials both during and post stimulation for full-term females and males and for preterm females, but not for preterm males. Activity ratings decreased across trials…

A cross-national study examined what Japanese, Chinese, and American infants communicated to naive observers in various contexts when facial information was not available. Found that cultural differences were manifested primarily in deviations from expected responses to situations; Chinese and Japanese were not rated as more surprised in the…

Examined arousal regulation as a function of levels of prenatal cocaine exposure in 4-month-olds, using a "still face" procedure. Found that, independent of several other factors, a greater percentage of heavily cocaine-exposed infants, compared to unexposed infants, showed less enjoyment during "en face" play with their mothers and continued to…

Compared Duchenne and non-Duchenne smiles of 1- to 6-month olds during weekly videotapes of mother/infant interaction for clues regarding emotional significance. Correlated levels of Duchenne and non-Duchenne smiling within sessions; found that they had similar developmental trajectories. Duchenne smiles were typically preceded by non-Duchenne…

Investigated emotional and facial expressivity in infants who failed to thrive and normal infants who were videotaped in social and cognitive contexts. Although differences in emotional expressivity were not found, infants who failed to thrive displayed more negative effects and used their lower faces less often to express emotion. (Author/BB)