Age-related changes in representational flexibility are a characteristic feature of declarative memory development. The authors suggest that a qualitative shift in the nature of infants' memory representations accounts for increasing memory flexibility with age. We will argue that a comprehensive theory of declarative memory development must (1)…

What capabilities are required for an organism to evince an "explicit" understanding of gaze as a mentalistic phenomenon? One possibility is that mentalistic interpretations of gaze, like concepts of unseen, supernatural beings, are culturally-specific concepts, acquired through cultural learning. These abstract concepts may either require a…

Event-related potentials (ERPs), in response to 4 facial expressions of fear, angry, happy, and sad, were collected from 72 institutionalized children (IG), ages 7 to 32 months, in Bucharest, Romania, and compared with ERPs from 33 children, ages 8 to 32 months, who had never been institutionalized (NIG). The NIG and IG exhibited different…

Contrary to past thinking, at birth, infants are capable of exploring their environment and interacting with other humans. They become aware of and learn about their world by observing, exploring, playing, and interacting with their caregivers. Motor skills play a major role in this process, which is achieved by allowing infants to move around,…

Previous research suggests that model competence does not emerge until relatively late in infancy (20-26 months). Development was systematically analyzed within 3 key areas--count noun learning, dual representation, and categorization--hypothesized to support the emergence of model competence in the second year. In an object-handling preferential…

Two studies of 5-month-old infants explored whether a phenomenon reported by K. Wynn (1992) reflects a familiarity preference instead of a mathematical competence. Experiment 1 was a conceptual replication of Wynn's study. When data were analyzed with the relatively liberal statistical approach used by Wynn, the original phenomenon was replicated.…

Babies' interest in the outer world develops very slowly. During the first half year or so, babies are strongly tuned in to themselves. They feel hunger pangs when they need to be fed. Their skin is fragile, and they need help maintaining their body temperature in cold weather. This article discusses outside interests, safe exploration, animal…

The Foundation for Blind Children, established in 1952, is a private, nonprofit, United Way agency. The foundation's mission is to provide education, counseling, communication and technology services to children and adults who are blind or visually impaired. By helping them to master their environment, it helps families lead lives of independence…

This study examined the relationship between presurgery speech measures and speech and language performance at 39 months as well as the relationship between early postsurgery speech measures and speech and language performance at 39 months of age. Fifteen children with cleft lip and palate participated in the study. Spontaneous speech samples were…

According to a recent account of infants' acquisition of their physical knowledge, the incremental-knowledge account, infants form distinct event categories, such as occlusion, containment, support, and collision events. In each category, infants identify one or more vectors which correspond to distinct problems that must be solved. For each…

Emotion-related regulation is a topic of considerable current interest; however, this was not always true. We briefly discuss the history of interest in the topic and then the current state of the field, including definitions of the construct. In addition, we summarize some of the important issues for future attention, including definitional…

Before 12 months of age, infants have difficulties coordinating and sequencing their movements to retrieve an object concealed in a box. This study examined (a) whether young infants can discover effective retrieval solutions and consolidate movement coordination earlier if exposed regularly to such a task and (b) whether different environments,…

Many developmental theories that emphasize the importance of developmental task attainment imply that there is a degree of homogeneity in the developmental histories of children with serious disorders. From the perspective of developmental psychopathology, however, children identified as having serious emotional or behavioral disorders are likely…

Survey estimates indicate that about one half of all U.S. pregnancies that result in birth are reported as unwanted or mistimed. As a result, there is substantial interest in the association between pregnancy wantedness and infant and child well-being. The objective of this study is to expand our knowledge of the effects of pregnancy wantedness on…

The civic community perspective focuses on local social and economic institutions that buffer communities from external, often global forces. Important community organizations such as locally oriented business establishments, civic organizations, associations, and churches are emphasized. These critical entities are posited to benefit a…