Bilingual infants acquire languages in a variety of language environments. Some caregivers follow a one-person-one-language approach in an attempt to not "confuse" their child. However, the central assumption that infants can keep track of what language a person speaks has not been tested. In two studies, we tested whether bilingual and…

Extracting the statistical regularities present in the environment is a central learning mechanism in infancy. For instance, infants are able to learn the associations between simultaneously or successively presented visual objects (Fiser & Aslin, 2002; Kirkham, Slemmer & Johnson, 2002). The present study extends these results by…

In laboratory studies of social referencing, infants as young as 12 months have been reported to prefer looking at the experimenter over the caregiver for clarifying information. From an expertise perspective, such behavior could be interpreted as if the infant seeks information from others and can discriminate between persons who have or do not…

We present a domain-general framework called "constrained attentional associative learning" to provide a developmental account for how and when infants form concepts for animates and inanimates that encapsulate not only their surface appearance but also their movement characteristics. Six simulations with the same general-purpose architecture…

Presents two studies which investigated the effects of social stimulation on infant's vocalization rates. Experiment I focused on response-contingent and response-independent social stimulation. Experiment II focused on continuous or omitted social stimulation. In both studies, social stimulation increased vocalization and the rate of responding…

Child-directed speech segments produced by mothers of 2- to 6-month olds varying in self-reported depressive symptoms were assessed on a summation test with 4-month olds of nondepressed mothers. Significant positive summation was obtained in infants tested with speech produced by mothers with comparatively fewer self-reported depressive symptoms…

Suggests that the findings of Legerstee, Barna, and DiAdamo (2000) are most parsimoniously explained by associative learning and may not constitute a precursor to later understanding of intentionality. Argues for the importance of differentiating between associative and inferential processes and reviews evidence that the understanding of…

Two studies examined whether 1-year olds' name learning during joint attention was guided by expectation that names will be in the form of spoken words. Results showed that 13-month olds, but not 20-month olds, learned a new sound/object correspondence, as evidenced by their choosing targets reliably in responses to hearing the word or sound on…

Two experiments examined whether associating an imitation task with an operant task affected 6-month-olds' memory for either task. Results indicated that infants successfully imitated a puppet's action for up to 2 weeks only if the associated operant task (pressing a lever to activate a miniature train) was retrieved first. Follow-up study…

Reports results of an experiment involving a hydranencephalic infant lacking cerebral hemispheres and a normal twin in testing for associative learning. Cardiac orienting responses to stimulus omission indicated that learning had taken place in both infants. (CS)

Two experiments examined role of affective correspondence between signal and outcome in 4-month olds' associative learning. Found that only when consoling infant-directed speech signaled the sad face did infants' visual interest in a checkerboard increase. Arousing infant-directed speech signaling either the smiling or sad face produced positive…

This annual report discusses several topics related to the work of the Research and Clinical Center for Child Development. Six topics are covered in the report. The articles are: (1) "Development of Intentional Behavior in Early Infancy" (Hongtu Chen); (2) "An Investigation of the Differences of Social Space in the Playroom: Through…