In this article, we used the data from the last three population censuses of China in 1982, 1990 and 2000, to study the dynamics of the sex ratio at birth and the infant mortality rate in China. In the late 1970s, China started its economic reform and implemented many family planning programs. Since then there has been great economic development…

This study was designed to provide a general picture of infant vocal-motor coordination and test predictions generated by Iverson and Thelen's (1999) model of the development of the gesture-speech system. Forty-seven 6- to 9-month-old infants were videotaped with a primary caregiver during rattle and toy play. Results indicated an age-related…

This paper works alongside other studies claiming the need for further elaboration of the theory of the demographic transition. A number of perspectives on the transition, some of them related to gender, democracy, education, and labour has, according to Tim Dyson, been insufficiently researched by social scientists. The most recently introduced…

When a baby is born, parents check for fingers and toes, and over the next few weeks remain alert to whether the baby can see and hear. When babies nurse well, parents are assured that the sense of taste and smell are fine. But what about touch? This crucial sense for babies is often overlooked. In this article, the author discusses how to ensure…

Investigated early development of temperament across three cultures: People's Republic of China (PRC), United States of America (US), and Spain, utilizing a longitudinal design (assessments at 3, 6, and 9 months of age). Selection of these countries presented an opportunity to conduct Eastern-Western/Individualistic-Collectivistic comparisons. The…

Reddy and Trevarthen explore what we can learn from emotionally engaging with babies. Theirs is a different approach from 20th-century psychology, in which doubt and detachment play a role in discerning other people's feelings and thoughts. Instead, the authors suggest that emotions are the key to psychological engagement. When interacting with an…

In the studies presented here, infants' understanding of others' attention was assessed when gaze direction cues were not diagnostic. Fourteen-, 18- and 24-month-olds witnessed an adult look to the side of an object and express excitement. In 1 experimental condition this object was new for the adult because she was not present while the child and…

The experiment measured attention-getting and attention-holding processes independently. Results confirmed the necessity for separating these measures and indicated differences between male and female infants in their demonstration of memory. (JMB)

A developmental sequence of adult-infant social play is proposed in this paper. Many adult interactions with infants take the form of early social play, although such play is often thought to originate with the onset of peer interaction. The sequence of five levels proposed in this work is based on, and approximately reverses, the Howes (1980)…

Two component skills of object permanence were studied: existence constancy -- the infants' ability to expect that an object continues to exist after it is hidden, and localization skill -- infants' ability to search in the correct place for a hidden object. Contradictions within the literature may occur because of task lability caused by failure…

This article serves as a rejoinder to TM 502 436, focusing on the potential resilience of human cognitive growth. (DEP)

Two experiments compared responses of 5-month-old infants to a live person, the person's photograph, photographs of dissimilar persons, and photographs of similar persons. Results indicated that infants use gross physiognomic features to perceive similarity between live persons and their photographs. (Author/JMB)

Fifteen mothers were trained to administer tactile-kinesthetic stimulation to their premature infants for 15 minutes four times a day for 1 month. At 4 months of age, experimental infants were compared to 14 controls for neurophysiological development. (Author/SB)

To determine why the familiarization-novelty paradigm tends to underestimate the ability of infants under 4 months of age to detect unidimensional differences between stimuli, groups of 14- and 20-week-olds were given unidimensional discrimination problems of varying difficulty under conditions of brief and prolonged familiarization. (Author/JMB)

Examines whether infant awareness of efficacy and control relates to increases in socioaffective behavior. Focuses on the relationship between socioaffective behavior and infant experience of contingent and noncontingent events. Explores alternative means of assessing response acquisition. (RH)