Eye gaze has been shown to be an effective cue for directing attention in adults. Whether this ability operates from birth is unknown. Three experiments were carried out with 2- to 5-day-old newborns. The first experiment replicated the previous finding that newborns are able to discriminate between direct and averted gaze, and extended this…

Expansion of newborn screening (NBS) has been driven primarily by a combination of advances in technology and medical treatment, and the sustained advocacy efforts of consumers and voluntary health organizations. The longstanding leadership of the March of Dimes has been credited by many as a critical factor in the expansion and improvement of…

Recent changes in genetics research have created new opportunities to improve the scope and quality of newborn screening services. Changes in newborn screening should be supported and directed by an organized program of research. The NICHD Research Initiative in Newborn Screening includes the development of systematic methods to identify…

Behavioral preferences for consonance over dissonance were tested in hearing infants of deaf parents and in hearing infants of hearing parents when they were 2 days old. Using a modified visual-fixation-based, auditory-preference procedure, I found that both 2-day-old infants of deaf parents and those of hearing parents looked longer at a visual…

This paper discusses the beginnings of post-natal psychic life, what constitutes the ordinary state of unintegration in the neonate, the nature of the baby's ego, and the clinical relevance of these questions. It is argued that an infant's state of passive unintegration in which the object functions as a "skin" to bind together the parts of the…

Introduction: The purpose of information systems is to facilitate work activities: here we consider how Activity Theory can be applied in information systems development. Method. The requirements for an analytical model for emancipatory, work-oriented information systems research and practice are specified. Previous research work in Activity…

Context: Pregnant women in rural areas may give birth in either rural or urban hospitals. Differences in outcomes between rural and urban hospitals may influence patient decision making. Purpose: Trends in rural and urban obstetric deliveries and neonatal and maternal mortality in California were compared to inform policy development and patient…

Response patterns of 24 female nurses to 2-day-old neonates who had been arbitrarily labeled male or female were studied. A total of 17 reliable behaviors of nurses were scored from videotapes of nurse-infant interaction. Nurses responded differentially to neonates based on true gender rather than ascribed gender. Nurses held boys more by their…

This document contains a report from the North Carolina Task Force for the Prevention of Substance Use Among Pregnant Women, a task force established to develop a long-range plan to decrease infant death and disability due to exposure to toxic substances in utero. The executive summary identifies four major problem areas which negatively affect…

This study investigated neurological and psychomotor development and intelligence from birth to 8 years of age among Swedish infants with intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR). The relationship between neonatal neurological and behavioral condition to follow-up results was also investigated. Twenty-two infants with IUGR were arranged in 2 groups…

In a study of mothers' assessment of their infant's temperament during the first 3 months, a total of 116 mothers completed 23 scaled items assessing the 9 New York Longitudinal Study temperament dimensions, and cuddliness and soothability, at 1 week, 1 month, and 3 months after delivery. Although nearly half of the mothers could not rate approach…

Thirty-six newborn infants were exposed to a visual stimulus until habituation was demonstrated; subjects were then presented with the same target or one of either moderate or large discrepancy from the standard stimulus. Following habituation, female infants displayed greater recovery of attention to moderate stimulus change. (SDH)

This study followed the development of visual preferences in a single infant from birth to 10 weeks of age. The stimuli used were 5 x 10 item arrays of squares of lines in which a 3 x 3 target matrix of the other figure type (line or square) was embedded. The direction of first fixation and the total time spent looking at each side were determined…

Summaries of papers presented in a symposium deal with a related series of four issues concerning the development of maternal attachment: Is maternal attachment best conceptualized and measured as an emotional tie or as observable behavior? Is there continuity in the development of maternal attachment from the prenatal to postpartum period? Can…

Participants of a conference dealing with problems of maternal and neonatal narcotic addiction discussed issues regarding treatment of pregnant addicts and their children and considered steps that could be taken to address the issues. The subject areas covered were followup evaluation, treatment procedures and models, development of standardized…