Differential attention of two-month-old infants to synthetically generated and naturally produced rising and falling intonation contours was studied, and it was learned that infants attended more to naturally produced rising contours and synthetically generated falling contours. Use of the infant-control auditory preference paradigm was also…

Twenty-four mothers were trained to record emotional incidents involving their toddlers. Reports of disciplinary encounters were analyzed in terms of (1) the types of discipline used and children's responses to that discipline and (2) the relationship between compliance/noncompliance and type of misdeed. Love withdrawal was shown to be a highly…

This article presents a method for disentangling the effects of an intervention from changes that are due to growth and regression to the mean. The method is illustrated in the context of evaluating the effect of the Special Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) on infant growth. (Author/LC)

Current social policy supports neither high quality infant day care nor alternatives to day care. Psychologists should take action on research evidence showing the importance of quality infant care, by proposing and supporting policies that would grant voluntary, partially paid, six-month leaves to working parents for infant care. (Author/MJL)

Two experiements evaluated a staff-managed feedback system to improve the hygiene and developmental skills of children in an infant/toddler center. The data supported the use of the new feedback system. Questionnaire data further supported the utility of the playchart system. (Author/CL)

Argues that knowing how infants process speech is a prerequisite to any definition of linguistic experience and therefore, the discrimination paradigm does not provide a test for the effect of experience on infants' speech discrimination. Outlines conditions to be met in order to conclude an effect of experience. (EKN)

The relationship of object permanence and classification skills to receptive and expressive language development was investigated in infants. Object permanence, classification, and parent-child verbal interaction ratings were about equally related to language comprehension functioning, while permanence was more strongly related to language…

Two studies explored the possibility that a set of behaviors that could be characterized as helping would be exhibited by young children. (Author/RH)

Forty-three infants and mothers were observed in the Strange Situation when infants were 12.5 and 19.5 months old. Following each assessment, mothers completed a questionnaire concerning changes in family and care-giving circumstances. Results indicate that security of attachment reflects the current status of infant-mother interaction and that…

Temperament ratings of infants, toddlers, and preschool children were made by their parents and their all-day nursery school teachers to determine whether low parent-observer reliabilities previously reported may relate to differential experiences with children. Despite the teachers' extensive contact with these children, convergence coefficients…

Investigated fathers' reported interaction with infants. Instrumentation consisted of three sets of questionnaires. Results indicated fathers of nonbreast-fed infants reported being generally more involved in caregiving. Fathers performed care tasks selectively, were more participatory when mothers were present, played with or comforted infants…

Short- and long-term effects of a parent-infant training program for biologically handicapped infants was evaluated in terms of maternal locus of control. Results indicated that maternal locus of control accounted for a substantial portion of the variance in the infants' developmental gains following the program intervention period. (Author/RH)

Reviews research on infant stimulation and cognitive development, and details implications for infant caregivers. (Author/MP)

Points out aptitudes and personal qualities infants' caregivers should have or should acquire. Basic needs of infants for optimal development in day care are specified. (RH)

Reviews evidence for a developmental sequence in symbolic play and attempts to provide a theoretical rationale for predicting correspondences between symbolic play and early language. (Author/RH)