The visual and motor responses to novel and familiar stimuli were measured in twelve 6-month-old infants, using new measures of integration and concordance. Results indicate that the infants' responses to the stimuli were both integrated and concordant. (Author/JMB)

Two studies used a visual expectation paradigm to determine whether five-month-old infants spontaneously use the number of pictures appearing in one location (left) to predict when a stimulus will appear in a second location (right). Neither stimulus timing nor stimulus identity predicted future stimulus location. (Author/DR)

Four experiments examined the ability of infants to form categorical representations for the spatial relations "above" and "below." Found that three- and four-month-olds could form categorical representations for above and below when a diamond-shape was presented above or below a horizontal bar but could not do so when a number…

While investigating a novel toy, infants heard a novel label applied to the toy by a speaker seated within the infant's view and attending to the toy (coupled condition) or by a speaker outside the infant's view (decoupled condition). Found that infants registered a link between the label and toy in the coupled but not the decoupled condition. (BC)

Infants were familiarized with geometric forms and were then tested with a novel form paired with the familiar one. Compared to infants who had longer looks at the display, those who had shorter looks demonstrated more broadly distributed looks, showed more looks and shifts, and inspected more stimulus areas; and their shifts included more…

Conducted a Rasch analysis of the psychometric qualities of the Test of Infant Motor Performance (TIMP; G. Girolami and S. Campbell, 1994) for the purpose of reducing the length of the test while maintaining its precision as a measurement device. Using scores from 1,732 tests, the TIMP was reduced to 42 items to form a functional motor scale for…

Argues that there are important individual differences in infant responses to frustrating situations. These different patterns of behavior have important implications for subsequent responses to challenge. Also argues that these different coping responses are in part temperamentally based and that individual differences in temperament help us to…

Studied the influence of depression on mother-infant interactions at 2 months postpartum in 24 depressed and 22 nondepressed mother-infant dyads. During structured interactions, depressed mothers were more negative and their babies less positive than in nondepressed dyads. Depressed dyads' reduced positivity was brought about through contingent…

A total of 45 3-month-olds were observed for stability in forming visual expectations. Findings indicate that infant performance in the Visual Expectation Paradigm is reliable as early as 3 months. Individual differences exist in infants' tendency to form visual expectations. (RH)

The article offers parents of children with physical disabilities a guide to selecting and purchasing appropriate equipment for proper seating. Emphasis is on the infancy and preschool period after which powered mobility is recommended. (DB)

Finds that maternal responsiveness in infancy consistently predicts intellectual performance in early childhood. (PCB)

Data provide strong evidence that studies of stress and cortisol release in infants must take into account basal level, circadian rhythm, and behavioral effects and employ appropriate statistical procedures. Participants were infants of two, four, and six months of age from whom salivary cortisol was obtained before and 15 minutes after an…

Lullabies are often divided into songs describing death or funeral of child and songs which threaten child with violence if he/she does not sleep. Survey of lullabies from 26 countries and various ethnic groups revealed that threat songs were more common than lullabies with death themes. Latter were frequent in Finno-Ugris and Slavic cultures, not…

Infants: (1) demonstrated memory for four events and the robustness of memory after a one week delay; (2) showed ability to anticipate upcoming events during training; (3) increased anticipatory behaviors during later training trials; and (4) appeared to form expectancies of future events during periods of stimulus onset and offset. (RH)

Two experiments provide clear evidence that children as young as 16 months include temporal order information in their representations of both familiar and novel events, and that the causal structure of novel events influences the recall of these children. (RH)