Clarifies issues involved in use of heart rate as index of newborn attentional responsivity by reviewing related studies and concluding that heart rate variability can be used in studying attentional responsivity state, and intra-individual and individual variables. (ED)

Study supported in part by Grant MH-10993 from the National Institute of Mental Health, U.S. Public Health Service.

To investigate the relationship of differences in 2-year-old children's reactions to strangers to differences in their temperaments and their security of attachment with their mothers, a correlational study was conducted with 47 infants and their parents. In the first component of the study, both parents completed a child temperament rating…

The responses of friends and acquaintances of parents whose child has died as the result of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome can be helpful and supportive or they can be guilt-producing, painful, and destructive. Some destructive responses experienced by parents in those circumstances include questioning such as, "Did you...?" which implies that…

The influence of age, sex, representational detail of objects (prototypicality) and adult play suggestions on children's progression of pretend behaviors was studied. A checklist was developed and utilized for coding the responses of 20 children (10 males, 10 females), to objects judged to be high and low prototypical by 12 adults. Children ranged…

FINDINGS WERE REPORTED ON THE ROLE OF EXPERIENCE IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THOSE SKILLS NECESSARY FOR VISUALLY DIRECTED REACHING. THE SKILLS INVOLVED WERE THE ORIENTING, ACCOMMODATING, AND PURSUIT RESPONSES OF THE EYES, ALL OF WHICH ARE ACHIEVED DURING THE FIRST HALF-YEAR OF LIFE. SEVERAL EXPERIMENTAL CHANGES WERE MADE TO THE ENVIRONMENT OF A GROUP OF…

This document presents the hearings before the Subcommittee on Child and Human Development on the enactment of the Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) Act Extension of 1978. The purpose of the hearing was to determine the effectiveness of the SIDS program which was established by Public Law 93-270, to determine how it can be improved or expanded,…

This manual provides information on preventive treatment and improving the health and food of infants, young children, and their mothers in developing nations. The nutrition needs of women during and following pregnancy are outlined, as well as the benefits and problems of breast feeding and weaning techniques. A discussion is presented on the…

THE PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY WAS TO FIND OUT WHETHER SOCIAL CLASS DIFFERENCES IN INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT ARE PRESENT IF (1) CHILDREN FROM SOCIALLY DISORGANIZED SLUM FAMILIES ARE COMPARED WITH CHILDREN FROM STABLE, LOW INCOME AND MIDDLE INCOME FAMILIES, (2) THE PIAGET OBJECT SCALE, A NEW MEASURE OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT BASED ON PIAGET'S SENSORIMOTOR…

A research project was aimed at measuring the relationship between infant vocalizations and linguistic development and determining the feasibility of using infant vocalizations as a predictor of later psychological and intellectual status. However, a method was needed to analyze the vocalizations of infants. This report describes a method used to…

In order to determine if infants possessed contingency awareness and if it were related to a temporal unit, two hypotheses were constructed. (1) Reinforcement of a response would probably lead to emission of that response only if the infant's next response occurred within a period of time during which he could remember the preceding…

This study used the behavioral contrast paradigm to assess the excitatory and inhibitory capabilities of young infants. Behavioral contrast is described as the phenomenon whereby the rates of responding in the presence of two stimuli, both of which were previously associated with reinforcement, change in opposite directions when only one of them…

This study examined the reactions of 45, 10-month-old infants to peer strangers. The infants were observed in two conditions: with a stranger of the identical age (10 months) and with one who was younger (5 months). In additon, each infant's behavior when he was alone with his mother was compared to his behavior when he was in the presence of…

This paper reports a study which investigated 2-month-old infants' auditory discrimination of tone quality in the male voice, extending a previous study which found that voice quality changes (soft versus harsh) in a female voice were discriminable by infants at this age. Subjects were 20 infants, tested at 8 and 9 weeks of age. Each infant was…

This bibliography contains over 1400 references on child development, assessment, and intervention. References pertain to any condition that might be expected to interfere with a child's normal progress in school; the age range of concern is birth to five years. The entries are categorized into seven groups: (1) the development and use of…