The developmental pattern of concurrent synaptogenesis in rhesus monkeys is consistent with a straightforward model of relations between brain and cognitive development. Concurrent synaptogenesis is hypothesized to lay the primary cortical foundation for a series of developmental levels in middle infancy that have been empirically documented in…

Thirty first-born infants were filmed in face-to-face interaction with their mothers and unfamiliar adults each month between 1 and 7 months of age. Adults interacted both playfully and unresponsively. Developmental trends, differential responsiveness to mothers and strangers, and social expectations in face-to-face interaction were explored.…

Utterances of 60 normally developing children, who were within six months of their second birthdays, were analyzed for occurrences of phonological processes. The most prevalent phonological processes were cluster reduction and deviations involving liquids. Clinical applications to aid in identifying disordered phonological development in preschool…

Microanalyses of unstructured videotaped interactions of three mother-infant dyads revealed dramatic shifts in dyadic vocalization patterns from primarily overlapping to primarily alternating. These results suggest that the emergent patterns reflect increased potential for coordination within the dyad, which may be capitalized on by mother and…

Illustrates, with data from a sample of U.S. middle-class families, how the structuring of the child care environment is related to culturally defined parental goals and attitudes toward development. Mothers' child care practices seemed to reflect the mothers' emphasis on cultural values such as independence and exploration to further cognitive…

Evaluates the discrimination of signal and silence duration in six-month-old infants, children aged 5 1/2 years, and adults. Results show that infants discriminated duration changes of 20 milliseconds or greater, children discriminated 15 milliseconds, and adults as few as 10 ms. Findings are consistent with other research in revealing age-related…

Study measured teachers' and children's facial, verbal and physical affectionate behaviors in seven day care centers during a variety of daily routines. Affectionate behavior occurred much less frequently than other social interaction. Implications for day care programming and research are discussed. (Author/RWB)

Observation of eight-month-olds (N=7) during isolated free play session with three toys revealed that significantly more vocalizations were present during transition periods where changes from locus of attention and changes in facial expression occurred. (Author/CB)

Analyzed reactions 15 boys and 19 girls received from adults and peers when subjects attempted to communicate and physically assert control. At 14 months, children's behavior did not differ by sex, but caregivers differentiated responses by sex; at 24 months, children's behavior differed by sex, but caregivers did not differentiate their responses…

Children classified as securely attached at 12 months interacted faster and more smoothly with the stranger than did avoidantly-attached peers. Microanalyses revealed different styles of interaction. Failure feedback increased efforts of securely-attached and decreased efforts of insecurely-attached children. After failure, securely-attached…

Compares two types of semantic development (the acquisition of disappearance words and success-failure words) to performance on two types of cognitive tasks (object-permanence and means-ends tasks) among infants. (HOD)

This longitudinal study examined the effectiveness of two different assessment methodologies, low structured observation and structured elicitation tasks, to obtain communicative intents from 35 normal children at the sensorimotor stage of development (9-24 months). The two approaches appeared to vary depending on the age of the child and the…

Investigates factors associated with outcomes in attachment relationships between 30 well-educated, full-time working mothers and their 18-month-old firstborn sons. Suggests maternal employment effects on mother-son attachment are mediated primarily by a woman's affective state, which becomes manifested in her style of caregiving and child-care…

Using a sample of 158 low-income black women and their infants, this study examined the relation between mother's age and measures of maternal behavior reflecting verbal responsivity, punitiveness, and instrumental support for intellectual development. (Author/NH)

Pointing gestures of verbally advanced two-year-olds were contrasted with those of less advanced peers to examine the relationships of gesture to language during the acquisition of each. Formal and functional aspects of each communicative skill were measured. Gesture and language corresponded only in their functional aspects. (Author/AS)