The ability of preverbal infants to form and use ill-defined categories, to respond differentially to contrasting categories, and to use specific dimensions in learning these categories is examined in 20 infants 10 months of age. Results show that infants are not only capable of learning two ill-defined categories, but that they can do so with…

Examines some of the methodological issues in the assessment of temperament and raises questions about the desirability of labeling infants as having "difficult temperaments." (Author/MP)

Reviews the impact of severe hearing loss in infancy on language development, discussing the effect of ear infections in infants in some detail and revealing the consequences of disruptions in the child's listening/speaking development in the early months of life. (Author/MP)

Twenty-five long-term survivors with birth weights of 1,000 gm or less were examined at a mean age of 10.6 years. Seven (28 percent) had one or more major neurologic or sensory handicap. Sixteen (64 percent) have been or presently are in a special education program. Journal availability: see EC 143 201. (Author/SB)

Results indicated that although mothers' and fathers' perceptions did not tend to differ from each other, their perceptions of sons as opposed to daughters did tend to differ, as a function of the infants' age. (Author/MP)

Visual preference and habituation paradigms were used to investigate the ability of three-month-olds to recognize the photographed face of the mother and to discriminate it from another face. Infants discriminated between the pictures of the mother and a stranger, both in the preference test and in the recognition test after habituation.…

Apparently, six-month-old infants can encode a location relative to a landmark, but in many situations their visual search behavior is dominated by a learned egocentric code. (RH)

Examined social labels first used for parents, differentiation of parents and others on the basis of labeling behavior, and overgeneralization of social labels in 71 infants ranging in age from 9 to 24 months. (JMB)

Results from a study of 40 one-year-old children and their mothers showed that maternal interference with children's independent object play had no short-term effect on infant social initiatives to mother, responsiveness to mother's social bids, or exploratory play. (JMB)

In response to criticisms of a study conducted by Shaffran and Decarie, the author underscores the need for objective, accurate peer evaluation. Errors and misinterpretations in the critical article are reported and corrected. (Author/RH)

Replies to Solomon's paper that basic criticisms made earlier of Shaffran and Decaries' study still apply. Views the study as essentially a confirmation of the null hypothesis based on weak measures. (Author/RH)

Identifies and reviews the evidence for some potential functions of proximity seeking in infancy. Data pertaining to a variety of species are reviewed. (Author/SS)

Tested the persistence over 24 hours of reward-expectation habits in infants. A comparison was made between the responses of two groups of infants (infants with a history of reinforcement with large, complex mobiles, and infants with no prior history of reinforcement with mobiles) on a task reinforced by a small mobile. (Author/SS)

The author discusses some of his experiences during the 13 years he has taught handicapped infants to swim. Lessons are usually given for a 10-minute period daily and progress is recorded on a swimming behavior chart. (PHR)

A predictor set was developed consisting of mother's democratic attitudes, child's temperament, and amount of child's time spent outside the home that allowed for correct prediction of 75 percent of the children, with an overall miss rate of 20 percent and a false positive rate of 29.6 percent. (Author/CL)