In 3 experiments, the author investigated 16- to 20-month-old infants' attention to dynamic and static parts in learning about self-propelled objects. In Experiment 1, infants were habituated to simple noncausal events in which a geometric figure with a single moving part started to move without physical contact from an identical geometric figure…

Evolution has provided babies with wonderful ways to get the loving attention and care that they need from adults. When a baby is distressed, his cry is the most primitive and powerful tool for bringing help. By the time a baby is 2 or 3 months old, his dazzling smile and crooked grin evokes tenderness, smiles, and nurturance from adults who are…

Babies thrive on security. In early months, secure feelings stem from being warm, cuddled closely, and comfortable in their tummies (and in having clean bottoms!). In this article, the author discusses how to soothe infants and toddlers. The strategies to help ease babies' distress are described. Some of the recommended strategies include: (1) to…

Paying attention to development and the earliest possible detection of relevant development disturbances during the first year are among the essential responsibilities of the paediatrician. We present a questionnaire for the documentation of the developmental progress of babies, having been compiled in the Loczy Institute in Budapest, according to…

Two-month-old infants (N = 29) participated in face-to-face interactions with their mothers and with strangers. The contingent responsiveness for smiles and vocalizations, while attending to the partner, was assessed for each partner in both interactions. For smiles and for vocalizations, infants were less responsive to the stranger relative to…

This study explores how infants encode an object's spatial extent. We habituated 6.5-month-old infants to a dowel inside a container and then tested whether they dishabituate to a change in absolute size when the relation between dowel and container is held constant (by altering the size of both container and dowel) and when the relation changes…

Young infants use caregivers' emotional expressions to guide their behavior in novel, ambiguous situations. This skill, known as social referencing, likely involves at least 3 separate abilities: (a) looking at an adult in an unfamiliar situation, (b) associating that adult's emotion with the novel situation, and (c) regulating their own…

This book is the result of efforts by an expert study group, set up by the Association for Child Psychology and Psychiatry, to examine the relationships between infant crying, sleeping, and feeding problems, and to shed light on the developmental and regulatory mechanisms involved. It brings together research from a variety of professional…

Thirty-one normal neonates were monitored for 24 hours on a newly developed movement monitor which provided measures of noncrying activity and counts of various movement amplitudes. (Author/SDH)

This study compared infants' responsiveness to modeling versus instruction and examined the issue of whether providing supplementary linguistic information makes modeling and instruction more or less effective. A total of 72 infants between 15 and 21 months of age participated in the study. Subjects were randomly assigned to conditions which…

Reported are implications of the genesis and development of joint action between Spanish adults and their infants for early first language acquisition. Focusing on the naturally occurring context of the "give and take" game format, this investigation discloses the role of the interaction pattern in the language acquisition process,…

This book describes 21 toys that were designed to stimulate development in low birthweight babies, ages 0-3, and can be made from basic materials found in the home. Step-by-step instructions are given for each toy along with a list of necessary supplies. Illustrations and/or patterns are provided as needed. Each entry includes suggestions for…

A case study is reported in which early "autistiform behavior" in a 4-week-old baby was reversed through intensive mothering. The baby, who had been developing normally, was bottlefed by "strangers" for 2 days and then began to avert her eyes from all people, an autistiform behavior which persisted and grew worse as the mother tried to…

Orienting responses to visual and auditory stimuli were compared in 3 cohorts of preterm infants born between 1977 and 1987. The sample consisted of 128 infants born between 1977 and 1979, 129 infants born between 1980 and 1983, and 94 infants born between 1984 and 1987. The sample was divided into one group of 140 infants born between 25- and…

Research has demonstrated the occurrence of two structurally distinct modes of vocalization in the infant/mother pair--coaction and alternation--that change developmentally over the first year of the infant's life. The present study investigated the vocalization latencies of three infant/mother pairs at three stages of infant development: at 10…