The following are sketched in outline form: (1) functional antecedents and their implications for language--assimilation, accommodation, circular reactions/ feedback processes, classification, discrimination, functional equivalence, representation, transformation, communications; (2) semantic antecedents and their implications for language--human…

Vocalizations of two female infants, recorded over a five-week period after the first emergence of cooing were studied. It was found that the features of the more primitive sound types regrouped themselves in comfort sounds. The implications for theories of prespeech development are discussed. (EJS)

For availibility see EC 103 548 Among findings of a 2-year followup study of 43 infants of birth weight less than 1000 grams were the following: average height at age 2 years was between the tenth and twenty-fifth percentiles; average weight was between the third and tenth percentiles; 15 Ss developed lower respiratory tract infections during the…

Provides an update of information on infant nurturance and early learning of special interest to providers of services to parents and infants. (BR)

The cry sounds of 12 well-nourished and 12 malnourished male infants were compared using behavioral and acoustic measures. (BRT)

Videotapes were made of the prehensile activity and looking behavior of 2- and 5-month-old infants in the presence of objects placed within and beyond possible contact distance. (BRT)

The effect of four social learning conditions on early language acquisition was explored, along with comparisons between learning whole words and learning the component sounds of the words. Subjects were 20 infants aged 9 to 15 months. (MS)

Investigated the relationship between maternal alcohol consumption and infant attachment behavior at one year of age. Infants were classified as secure, insecure-avoidant, insecure-ambivalent/resistant, or insecure-disorganized/disoriented. More infants of mothers who had consumed more alcohol were insecure in comparison with infants whose mothers…

Previously published data on infants aged 12 and 13 months who were observed in the Strange Situation with their mothers and fathers were reanalyzed using a component process approach. (PCB)

The relation between resumption of full-time employment by mothers of infants, and subsequent infant-mother and infant-father attachments, was examined. No relation emerged between maternal work status and the quality of infants' attachments to their mothers. (PCB)

Investigates the relation between neonatal cry features elicited by painful circumcision procedures and the perceived urgency of those cries. (HOD)

Findings indicated that attachment-related affect may reflect an affect continuum that underlies certain mother- and stranger-directed behaviors in the Strange Situation. However, not all aspects of reunion behavior can be predicted by prior separation reactions. (Author/RH)

Infants whose mothers were supportive of their autonomy displayed greater task-oriented persistence and competence during play than did infants of more controlling mothers; securely attached and avoidant infants tended to exhibit greater persistence at tasks than anxious-ambivalent babies, and ambivalent babies were the most negative in affect.…