Describes longitudinal changes in premature infants' behaviors after various forms of stimulation were given during a standardized neurological examination. Regardless of conceptional age, arousal level increased as the examination progressed. Conceptional age influenced rapidity of change from lower to higher states of arousal and determined the…

Twenty-five one-year-olds were administered two tasks (each of which consisted of a familiarization stage followed by a recognition stage) in order to determine whether infants can recognize the shapes of objects by touch alone. (CM)

Three questions are addressed: (1) Are infants as young as six months capable of interacting with a peer? (2) What type of social acts are used during these early encounters? and (3) Do toys facilitate the interactions? (Author/MP)

When older siblings were present with infants and their mothers in the backyard of a private home, the infants went further from their mothers, traversed a larger area of the yard, left their mothers more quickly, and stayed away longer. (RH)

The infants of the adolescent mothers were found to be significantly less capable of responding to social stimuli, to be less alert, and to be less able to control motor behavior and to perform integrated motor activities than were the infants of older mothers. Journal availability: J. B. Lippincott Co., E. Washington Sq., Philadelphia, PA 19105.…

Investigates the effects of variable-practice versus constant-practice on the learning of novel motor schemata in 36 children ranging in age from two years one month to four years. (Author/SS)

Investigates infants' fear reactions in response to a potentially frightening toy as a function of their having control, or not having control, over the toy's movements. Subjects tested were 24 boys and 24 girls, age 12 to 13 months. (Author/SS)

How infants come to master reaching for moving objects was studied in a situation where the distance to and the velocity of the moving object varied. Eleven infants participated in the study. (MP)

Four facial stimuli derived from the Bolton standards of craniofacial development representing a human male at 6 months, 3, 8, and 18 years of age were used in a test of Lorenz's concept of babyishness and of the discrepancy hypothesis. Subjects were 87 four-month-old infants. (Author/MP)

Demonstrates that eye contact per se, and not solely the inherent attractiveness of the eyes and face, is salient to five-month-old infants. Five-month-old infants can distinguish when another person is looking at them, rather than at a nearby location. (Author/MP)

The schema hypothesis proposed by Kagan and Lewis was used to make predictions concerning the preferences of infants 3 to 14 months old for speech stimuli. An operant response method was used in determining the infants' preferences for inflected, monotone, and scrambled natural speech stimuli. (MS)

A total of 134 mothers and their newborn infants were studied in order to evaluate the relationship between neonatal characteristics and mother-infant interaction. (SB)

Examined fetal heart rate and movement in 31 healthy fetuses from 20 weeks through birth and at age 6 months. Found that more active fetuses were more difficult, unpredictable, unadaptable, and active as infants that were less active fetuses, and that higher fetal heart rate was associated with lower emotional tone, activity level, and…

Examined how infants acquire adaptive locomotion in the novel task of going up and down slopes. Found that infants' judgments became increasingly accurate and exploration became increasingly efficient, with no transfer over the transition from crawling to walking. Infants learned to gauge their abilities on-line as they encountered each hill at…

Discusses how providing developmentally appropriate choices to toddlers can prevent conflicts during caregiving tasks and daily routines in child care settings. Emphasizes maintaining a balance between children's needs and adult issues of time and space. Notes the importance of examining one's feelings and values to increase awareness of one's…