Investigating learning by imitation in infants and young children, this study addresses itself to the following issues: whether there is systematic accommodation, whether this imitation follows a universal sequence, how the development of an act over many trials relates to the development of indicators over many months, and what the phenomenon…

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether or not infants who had experienced different types of naturally-occurring, significant separations from an attachment figure during the first year of life differed in their response to separation at 12 months of age. Thirty-three 12-month-old Caucasian infants from middle class, intact families…

A number of infantile nonverbal behaviors are listed that can be interpreted as signs of a child's fundamental psychosocial orientations to others during the first year. Ethological studies of child and adult nonverbal communication suggest a considerable degree of neoteny in the human sign system. (SW)

Tests the egocentric hypothesis, i.e., if it can be shown that, given spatial cues, an infant searches at a position bearing an invariant relation to these cues, but with a varying egocentric position, then there would be strong evidence that his organization of space is not necessarily egocentric. (Author/RK)

Reviews the major transitional object (TO) theories in terms of origin, development, and psychological meaning. Examines the validity of TO (intense, persistent attachments young children develop for blankets, soft toys, and bits of cloth) theory in light of current empirical knowledge of TO behavior. (HOD)

Effects of depressed mood on mother-infant interaction were studied in 30 mother-infant dyads using a mood induction procedure consisting of neutral or self-referent statements. Among results were that mothers in the depression induction condition were less successful in eliciting positive responses from their infants than were controls.…

Tested were the impact of rejection and acceptance experienced by adolescent mothers during childhood; social support received after their baby's birth; and infant irritability on angry, punitive maternal behavior. Possible links between maternal behavior and indices of child anger, noncompliance, low confidence, and social withdrawal were also…

Investigated the criterion-related validity of the Battelle Developmental Inventory (BDI) when used with 70 handicapped children less than 30-months-old. Compared scores with those on the Bayley Scales of Infant Development. Supported the validity convincingly using multivariate data analyses. Commends the BDI's value in assessing delays in…

Gaze patterns of retarded and nonretarded infants (N=16) during play and instruction with their mothers were compared at two developmental ages (5-10 and 11-16 months). Regardless of group, situation, or age, infants were overwhelmingly oriented toward the toys. Configurations of looking patterns were more consistent across ages among the…

Examined extent to which infant-mother attachment could be predicted by mother interactional variables and infant proneness to distress. Meta-analysis indicated that sensitive, responsive maternal interaction predicted the security of attachment in Ainsworth and Wittig's "strange situation." Proneness to distress, a temperamental variable,…

Investigates ability of nine-month-old infants to imitate simple actions with novel objects. Looks at both immediate and deferred imitation. Findings show that imitation in early infancy can span wide enough delays to be of potential service in social development. (Author/RWB)

Examines the nonverbal communication competence of 18- to 48-month-old Down Syndrome children. Results indicate that Downs children display strengths and weaknesses in nonverbal communication skills. Further, results suggest a deficit in expressive language is associated with a deficit in nonverbal requesting skill that had developed earlier among…

Studies the communication of affect between depressed mothers and their infants and its relation to infant socioemotional and cognitive development through face-to-face interaction. Findings indicate that there are correspondences between the behavior of depressed mothers and their infants. (Author/BB)

Examines differences in habituation in a visual attention task as a function of chronological age, mental age, and handicapping condition. Subjects were 102 children who ranged in age from 3 to 36 months and who were classified as Down Syndrome, cerebral palsied, developmentally delayed, or multiply handicapped. (Author/RH)