When mothers of 12 infants 10 weeks of age displayed noncontingent, practiced facial and vocal expressions of joy, anger, and sadness, infants responded differently to each expression. Infants' matching responses to maternal affects were only part of complex but predictable behavioral patterns that indicate meaningful affect states and possibly…

Documents rate, mean duration, and mode of infants' affective displays. Using cross-sequential design, observes infants in their homes from 6 to 18 months playing with their mothers, with peers, and alone. With increasing age, affect rates and vocal modes increased, and mean durations and facial and motoric modes decreased. (Author/BE)

A group of 20 abusive mothers and a group of 20 matched, nonabusive mothers were shown slides depicting infants in seven different emotional states. Abusive mothers were more likely to incorrectly identify specific signals of emotion and to label negative affect as positive. (Author/RH)

The purpose of this study was to empirically corroborate the hypothesis of Campos and Izard that the organized quality of infant emotion functions as a predominant means of communication during infancy. The study was designed to determine whether 6-month-old infants' facial expressions of emotion "systematically co-occur" with specific…

Examined whether young infants produced differentially organized hand and arm actions in relation to affective expressions when the infants were presented with social and nonsocial stimuli. (PCB)

Wary infants were more likely than bold infants to reference their mothers when the stimulus, a caged rabbit, was first presented; however, as the exploration period progressed, bold and wary infants referenced equally often. Referencing occurred less often than affective sharing. (RH)

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 used unconstrained or trained facial expressions to convey to their infants messages about happiness or fear concerning a novel object. Results indicated that infants sought and used maternal appraisals; maternal messages of fear lacked clarity; and maternal messages regulated daughters' distance from objects. (BC)

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…

Mothers of 49 kindergartners and 54 second graders told their children 2 stories about distressed persons to obtain children's emotional, physiological, and prosocial responses. For kindergartners, mothers' perceptions of children's emotional reactivity were positively related to their use of positive facial expressions, whereas mothers'…

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)