Infants' ability to mentally track the orientation of an object during a hidden rotation was investigated (N = 28 in each experiment). A toy on a turntable was fully covered and then rotated 90°. When revealed, the toy had turned with the turntable (probable event), remained at its starting orientation (improbable event in Experiment 1), or…

From birth, infants detect associations between the locations of static visual objects and sounds they emit, but there is limited evidence regarding their sensitivity to the dynamic equivalent when a sound-emitting object moves. In 4 experiments involving thirty-six 2-month-olds, forty-eight 5-month-olds, and forty-eight 8-month-olds, we…

This experiment asked whether infants at 5 months perceived an invariant over four types of rigid motion (perspective transformations), and thereby differentiated rigid motion from deformation. Four perspective transformations of a sponge rubber object (rotation around the vertical axis, rotation around the horizontal axis, rotation in the frontal…

Four experiments (E1, E2, E3 and E4) investigated whether or not 5- to 7-month-old infants could detect auditory-visual relationships in audiovisual presentations of affective expressions, thereby perceiving the bimodally-presented expressions as unitary events. In E1, 16 infants were simultaneously shown two 2-minute films of a "happy"…

The ability of forty 8-week-old infants to discriminate between projected-stereograms with and without retinal disparity was tested with an habituation-dishabituation paradigm. Results were interpreted as indicating that the infants could discriminate between stimuli when the only difference between them was binocular disparity. (MS)

A total of eighty 9-month-old infants were presented with a problem consisting of several different conditions which separated response, position on a table, and absolute spatial position as factors leading to errors in search for hidden objects. (MS)

The ability of 5-month-old infants to recognize two-dimensional (pictorial) representations of three-dimensional objects was investigated. Subjects were 24 5-month-old infants. The novelty preference technique was employed: all infants were familiarized with a three-dimensional object--a doll. Following familiarization, three novelty tests were…

Investigating relationship between infants' visual and tactual exploration, looking and touching responses of 6-month-olds to objects only visually or tactually novel were observed. Results indicated infants were capable of tactual recognition memory, that temperature was salient object property, and that visual and tactual exploration are not…

Motor behavior, motor performance, and motor learning are discussed at length within the context of infant and child development. Individual chapters focus on the following: the sensory-motor behavior of infants; analysis of selected perceptual-motor programs; beginnings of movement in infants; gross motor attributes in early childhood; visual…

Recent research indicates that by 4.5 months, infants use shape and size information as the basis for individuating objects but that it is not until 11.5 months that they use color information for this purpose. The present experiments investigated the extent to which infants' sensitivity to color information could be increased through select…

This monograph is a collection of papers describing a series of loosely related studies of visual attention, auditory stimulation, and language discrimination in young infants. Titles include: (1) Infant Attention and Discrimination: Methodological and Substantive Issues; (2) The Addition of Auditory Stimulation (Music) and an Interspersed…

Three studies investigated infants' and young children's perception of the unity of musical events. Results indicated that properties specific to musical instrument families are relevant for young children's perception of musical events. Specific experience with a variety of instruments is evidently not necessary for detecting correspondences of…

The author discusses the role of perceptual training in the education of young perceptually handicapped children. Distinctions are drawn between perception and awareness, and the necessity of stimulation to encourage infant and child learning is emphasized. Commonalities between perception and learning are underscored. The author stresses that…

Explores cognitive development in early childhood education and examines four kinds of prevailing misconceptions in the light of recent evidence: (1) infants and very young children are limited to sensorimotor cognition; (2) young children's cognition is animistic; (3) young children's thought is egocentric; and (4) young children can think only…

Examines current research on brain development, focusing on infants' ability to understand basic numerical concepts and arithmetic operations. Asserts that as the brain undergoes dramatic transformations, it already has a built-in capacity to understand basic numerical concepts. Recommends that parents and professionals engage in activities…