Depression in mothers is consistently associated with reduced caregiving sensitivity and greater infant negative affect expression. The current article examined the real-time behavioral mechanisms underlying these associations using Granger causality time series analyses in a sample of mothers (N = 194; 86.60% White) at elevated risk for…

Behne, Carpenter, Call, and Tomasello (2005) showed that 9- to 18-month-olds, but not 6-month-olds, differentiated between people who were unwilling and unable to share toys. As the outcome of the two tasks is the same (i.e., the toy is not shared), the infants must respond to the different goals of the actor. However, visual habituation paradigms…

Considers contributions of Sigmund Freud and Rene Spitz to developmental psychology. Freud's contributions include his observations about play, perspectives on developmental processes, and ideas about unconscious mental activity. Spitz's contributions include his assessments of infants, perspectives on developmental processes, and his concept of…

Examined mothers' and infants' affect in play and infant sex as predictors of infants' response to the still-face situation. (PCB)

Prior to expressing language, infants have mastered many means for engaging in referential communication with others. This contention can be supported by reference to (1) developmental changes in the attentional structure of communication and (2) infants' use of affective expressions as they begin to master referential communication. In an effort…

Examined the possibility that relations in the family system are affected when infants begin to crawl. Parents' expressions of prohibition and anger, and their use of physical punishment, increased after infants began to crawl. (BG)

This study was designed to assess genetic influence on behavioral inhibition and its varying expression in 92 monozygotic and 86 dizygotic twin pairs. Infant behavior and mother-child interaction were observed and videotaped during structured play sessions at age 14, 20, 24, and 36 months. Analysis of the results suggests that most of the overlap…

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…

Used home observations and laboratory procedures with 85 Chilean mothers and infants to examine the association between infants' chronic undernutrition and maternal sensitivity, sociodemographic variables, and infants' play and problem solving. Found that maternal sensitivity was correlated with maternal education, maternal weight, marital…

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)