Premeaningful vocalizations produced by nine normally developing and 10 Down's syndrome infants were recorded as part of a longitudinal study of language development. Both groups began to produce canonical, reduplicated babbling at 8 to 8 1/2 months of age, and trends regarding consonantal and vocalic development for both groups were similar…

Studies infants' symbolic gestures in and out of context with objects varying in degree of perceptual/contextual support. Results indicate vocabulary production correlates with symbolic gesture out of context and that vocabulary comprehension correlates with symbolic gesture in context. Gestures that bear the strongest relationship to language are…

Used two tapping tasks to determine whether individual infants' right- or left-hand preference for unimanual and bimanual tapping corresponded to their handedness in bimanual manipulation tasks during the second year of life. Also examined whether manual tapping preference occurred before or after the onset of bimanual handedness. (JMB)

Argues for an interactionist model of the relation between cognition and motivation in early infancy. (Author/SS)

Shows that the heart rate acceleration of 16 infants ranging in age from 8 to 16 months consistently began well before the onset of crying. This suggests that heart rate acceleration is not merely a by-product of crying but that it is associated with negative affect. (JMB)

Attempts to differentiate the serial habituation hypothesis from the regression to the mean hypothesis as explanations for the reduction of visual fixations in the form perception of four-month-old infants. Results support a regression to the mean interpretation of the data. (JMB)

Attempts to identify the point at which prelinguistic vocalizations are used by infants as a means of communication. A significant relationship between Piagetian causal developmental level and the occurrence of intentional vocalizations was found in a study of 46 infants with a mean age of 10.7 months. (JMB)

Results showed that concentrations of testosterone were significantly greater in the umbilical blood of newborn males than females. In both sexes, firstborns had significantly more progesterone and estrogens than later borns, and among males, firstborns had higher concentrations of testosterone. Temporal spacing of childbirths had greater effects…

Suggests toys and materials for changing the environment to keep babies interested in it. (CM)

In this longitudinal study a close association between affective expression and cognitive development was demonstrated. (SB)

In three studies of infants' ability to perceive partially occluded objects with specific appearances, a screen alternately uncovered and covered either a connected or interrupted rectangle. Pattern of infants' looking times suggests that they perceive the unity of the partially occluded object by 6.5 months but did not perceive the form of the…

Assessed infants' and adults' adjustment of hand orientation before grasping objects. Found that infants modified their hand orientation to match the long axis of an object, did not make anticipatory hand adjustments before reaching through a narrow aperture to grasp an object, and oriented their hand to be parallel with the handle of an object.…

Provides instructions for creating inexpensive activities and toys for infants and toddlers to supplement major toy purchases in early care programs. Includes instructions for making bean bags, cellophane snakes, sock bracelets, one-piece puzzles, milk carton blocks, a pounding bench, paint gloves, and people puzzles. (KB)