Two studies examined 9- to 15-month-olds' ability to deduce an abstract nonmatching rule from reward feedback. Results showed that physical connectedness between stimuli and reward was key to performance. In the absence of the perception that stimulus and reward were components of a single thing, even close spatial and temporal proximity were…

Two experiments examined six-month-olds' ability to form an abstract containment category. Results indicated that, after habituation to object pairs in a containment relation, infants looked reliably longer at an example of an unfamiliar versus familiar containment relation, indicating that they could form a categorical representation of…

The Caregiver Assessment Scale (CAS) was developed to evaluate caregiver interaction in infant-toddler settings compared to prominent child care guidelines. The CAS covers caregiving skills, enrichment activities, health and safety, and record keeping, and can be used by caregivers, directors, or supervisors. Periodic caregiver assessment is…

While infants investigated a novel toy, their mothers made either facial or vocal expressions that were neutral, happy, or fearful. Results indicated that infants in the fearful-vocal condition looked at their mothers longer, showed less toy proximity, and showed more negative affect than infants in the neutral-vocal condition. Happy-vocal signals…

Analyzed effects of modeling and contingent praise on infant imitation of three responses: motor-with-toy, motor-without-toy, or vocal. Found a systematic increase in the percentages of training and probe models matched by the three 12- to 14-month-olds following introduction of model-and-praise treatment conditions. Nonmatching responses did not…

Two studies investigated development of infants' visual preferences for the human body shape. Results indicated that 18-month-olds had a reliable preference for scrambled body shapes over typical body shapes in line drawings, while 12- and 15-month-olds did not respond differentially. In condition using photographs, only 18-month-olds had reliable…

Nine experiments examined 6- to 10-month-olds' formation of an abstract category representation for "between." Findings indicated that older, but not younger infants, could form an abstract category representation for "between" when performing in an object-variation version of the between categorization task. Six- to…

Interviewed depressed and non-depressed mothers on their breastfeeding practices and perceptions of their infants' feeding behavior. Found that, compared to non-depressed mothers, depressed mothers breast fed less often, stopped breastfeeding earlier, and scored lower on a breastfeeding confidence scale. Mothers who breastfed rather than bottle…

Longitudinal data indicated a significant relation between five-month vagal tone and negative reactivity elicited in the laboratory and maternal ratings of activity level and smiling behavior. Newborn vagal tone predicted maternal ratings of frustration and fear. Moderate stability was found for infant reactivity. (RH)

Examined grief responses of parents suffering perinatal loss and explored effects of gender, type of loss, time since loss, number of losses, and subsequent pregnancy on grief response. Responses to Grief Experience Inventory from 176 such parents revealed subjects suffering grief. Grief response was affected by subjects' perception that loss was…

Evaluated the extent to which infants' expressive modalities of face, gaze, voice, gesture, and posture form coherent affective configurations and whether these modalities are related to specific interactive contexts. Found four distinct affective configurations: social engagement, object engagement, passive withdrawal, and active protest. (MDM)

Comments on Bradley's interpretation (PS 522 367) of Darwin's baby observations in this issue. Argues that Bradley reduced Darwin to a mere rhetorician, exaggerated Erasmus Darwin's influence, and diminished the importance of intertextual links in Darwin's own previous writings. Disagrees that Darwin's primary motive was rhetorical and suggests…

Comments sympathetically on Bradley's interpretation (PS 522 367) of Darwin's baby observations in this issue. Draws from Bradley to provide a sketch of the politics of child development as a human enterprise, and questions the view of developmental psychology as a positivistic, value-free field. (TM)

Responds to commentaries by Keegan and Gruber on Bradley's article in this issue, refuting charges of oversimplification of Darwin's ideas. States that the Darwin example undermines the notion that developmental psychology is insulated from cultural preoccupations, arguing that Darwin is important for introducing a new psychological poetic.…

Home visits and parental diaries revealed that children of deaf parents produced their initial recognizable sign at 8.2 months of age, attained a lexicon of 10 signs at 13.5 months, and combined signs at 16.1 months. Children did not use signs to name new things until 12.6 months, typically after they had demonstrated communicative pointing. (BC)