An investigation of the short term stability of infants' responses to strangers was conducted. Ss were 60 randomly chosen full-term family-reared infants, 30 boys and 30 girls, selected to fit into three age groups of 8, 10 and 12 months. The experimental design was such that the order of first, second, and third visits was counter-balanced…

This longitudinal study examined the interrelationship between sex of the child and sex of the parent on the expression of attachment behaviors during the child's first 2 years. Special consideration was given developmental changes in the attachment structure and the relationship of attachment to cognitive development. Ten boys and 10 girls were…

This report is a portion of a study of attachment behavior: behavior promoting contact and/or proximity of an infant to his mother figure. This report deals specifically with crying, response to brief everyday separations from the mother and to her return, and behavior relevant to physical contact with her. The subjects, 26 infant-mother pairs…

Research is underway concerning the way the perception, conception, and representation of spatial layout develops. Three concepts are important here--space itself, frame of reference, and cognitive map. Cognitive map refers to a form of representation of the behavioral space, not paired associate or serial response learning. Other criteria…

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that specific spatial and possibly temporal rates of change dominate early infants' looking, that these spatial and temporal events have meaningful and specific empirical correlates in neurophysiology as a function of age, and finally that neurophysiologically constrained models provide testable…

A survey of assessment procedures of the newborn and of the infant during the first month of life was conducted; the survey indicated that there were instruments for evaluating the newborn and for evaluating the four-week-old infant, but there was no single procedure which included an evaluation of both the newborn and the four-week-old infant.…

Parents are prepared for their roles with the new infant during pregnancy, the anxiety and turmoil serving as a source of energy for reorienting them to their new roles. The individuality of the neonate then shapes their responses to him and essentially creates an environment which is suitable to his particular needs. Rather than being at the…

This report describes the development and testing of a screening method designed to describe the Cornell Infant Nursery environment and infant activities in quantitative terms. The scanning procedure developed is basically a time-sampling way of collecting data on the normal operation of the nursery. Two long lists of variables (categories of…

Based on findings that report differences between cries of normal and clinically abnormal infants, this study examined the relationship between birthweight and behavioral and acoustic features of neonatal cry because of the long-standing association between birthweight, perinatal trauma, and subsequent development. Subjects were 88 neonates…

This study explored the relationship between the mother-infant interaction and the concurrent perceptual-cognitive and intellectual status of the infant. One hundred and eight-nine 12-week-old infants were given a battery of perceptual-cognitive tasks, including the Mental Developmental Index (MDI) of the Bayley Scales, the Corman-Escalona Scales…

Attempts to determine whether infants' performance in two search tasks is related to their entry into Stage 6 of object permanence development (thereby testing Piaget's claim that only Stage 6 infants possess the capacity for representation). (BD)

Wary infants were more likely than bold infants to reference their mothers when the stimulus, a caged rabbit, was first presented; however, as the exploration period progressed, bold and wary infants referenced equally often. Referencing occurred less often than affective sharing. (RH)

Study looks at pigtailed macaque in the context of visual recognition problems adapted from a standardized test developed for use with human infants. Results demonstrate that the low-risk group easily differentiated novel from previously seen targets; the high-risk group gave no evidence of recognition. (Author/RWB)

Adopts a longitudinal design to track mother-child developmental change in infant task-related mastery and concomitant maternal behavior. Finds that, as infants gain more mastery across time, mothers gradually withdraw support in terms of concrete, specific and nonverbal means of instruction. Results support a one-step-ahead model for maternal…