The component model of human parenting has been extensively used to study parents' interactions with their offspring and to examine variation across cultural contexts. The current study applies this model to nonhuman primates to investigate which forms of parenting humans share with other primates and how these interactions change over infants'…

Animals have long been used as comparative models for adult human speech perception. However, few animal models have been used to explore developmental speech perception questions. This dissertation encourages the use of domestic dogs as a behavioral model for speech perception processes. Specifically, dog models are suggested for questions about…

The author considers the biological basis of the arts in human evolution, which she holds to be grounded in ethology and interpersonal neurobiology. In the arts, she argues, ordinary reality becomes extraordinary by attention-getting, emotionally salient devices that also appear in ritualized animal behaviors, many kinds of play, and the playful…

Red colobus monkeys are playful primates, making them an important species in which to study animal play. The author examines play behaviors and responses in the species for its play initiation events, age differences in initiating frequency and initiating behavior, and the types of social play that result from specific initiating behaviors. Out…

Recent research suggests that witnessing events of fission (e.g., the splitting of a solid object) impairs human infants', human adults', and non-human primates' object representations. The present studies investigated the reactions of gorillas and orangutans to cohesion violation across different types of fission events implementing a behavioral…

This article presents a tentatively "balanced" view (i.e., midway between lean and rich interpretations) of pointing behavior in infants and apes, based upon the notion of intentional reading of behavior without simultaneous attribution of unobservable mental states. This can account for the complexity of infant pointing without attributing…

Brain damage due to an episode of hypoxia remains a major problem in infants causing deficit in motor and sensory function. Hypoxia leads to neuronal functional failure, cerebral palsy and neuro-developmental delay with characteristic biochemical and molecular alterations resulting in permanent or transitory neurological sequelae or even death.…

A study designed to investigate the effects of permanent maternal separation in infant rhesus monkeys, 60, 90, and 120 days of age, and housed individually or in Paris. Monkeys separated at 90 days and housed individually showed the highest levels of disturbance. (DP)

Examined the development of pattern recognition in infant pigtailed macaques using the familiarization novelty technique. Results indicate that by at least 200 days postconception subjects show a consistently reliable visual response to novelty. (Author/RH)

Three groups of macaque mother/infant dyads were observed while each lived in ecological settings that differed in level of foraging demand and, hence, the amount of work each mother was required to perform to obtain her daily rations. Findings suggest that in monkeys, as in humans, when mothers are psychologically unavailable to their infants,…

Examines the influence of hormonal factors during pregnancy on maternal responsiveness in infrahuman animals and human beings. Argues that it is likely that maternal behavior in humans has a physiological basis. (PCB)

Four-month-old rhesus monkeys were removed from their social group under three different conditions of perceptual isolation from their mothers and peers. Infant behavior was recorded and blood samples were obtained for analysis of plasma cortisol. Infants never showed signs of depression; their responses following separation were seen as attempts…

Links infrahuman and human research in an examination of sensory and experiential factors that regulate early mothering behavior. (PCB)

Capacity of infant monkeys to mount an antibody response to viral challenge was evaluated after monkeys' removal from their mothers in several social and physical environments. Results indicated that trauma of separation was reduced when infants were familiar with the separation environment or familiar social companions were available. (PCB)

Rhesus monkeys were reared in total isolation, in partial isolation, or under normal conditions with access to mothers and peers. Each group was compared on the rate of acquisition of a simple operant response. (GO)