This study uses a habituation paradigm to systematically investigate the discrepancy hypothesis with male and female new borns. In addition, multiple visual response measures are used in monitoring the habituation process and the infant's response to various degrees of novelty. Ss were 36 apparently normal newborns (half of each sex) ranging in…

The eye movements of infants, between 4 and 11 weeks old, were recorded while they viewed either a representation of a face or nonface stimulus. (Author/SB)

It was hypothesized that infants' examining behavior, in contrast to other activity, reflects focused attention and active intake of information. The first study with 7- and 12-month-olds supported the hypothesis. The second and third studies investigated the effects of age and familiarity on both latency to and duration of examining. (Author/RH)

Two experiments examined the origins of joint visual attention in 6- to 11-month-olds with a training procedure. Results indicated that joint visual attention does not reliably appear prior to 10 months; from about 8 months, a gaze-following response can be learned; and simple learning is not sufficient as the mechanism through which joint…

Two experiments used object-manipulation tasks to examine whether one- to two-year-olds form superordinate-like categories by attending to object parts. Findings indicated that 14- and 18-month-olds behaved systematically toward categories with different, but not matching, parts. Without part differences, none formed superordinate categories.…

Examined whether early individual differences in look duration were related to general mechanisms of the infant nervous system combining attention and emotion. Found significant positive correlations between attention measures and duration of facial expressions of pain/distress after vaccinations at 3, 5, and 11 months. Concluded that individual…

Examined exogenous orienting among infants between 7 and 21 weeks of age in 2 experiments using display with multiple potential attention targets. Found that as early as 7 weeks of age, sensitivity for a small moving stimulus can be significantly influenced by the simultaneous presence of competing attention targets. Found large increases in…

Assessed the role of maternal affect mirroring on development of prosocial behaviors and social expectancies in 2- to 3-month-olds. Found that infants whose mothers ranked high on affect mirroring (attention maintenance, sensitivity, responsiveness) ranked high on prosocial behaviors and social expectancy, whereas infants whose mothers ranked low…

Focusing on infants' physical attractiveness and behavior, this study explores reasons some infants receive greater amounts and different types of attention from adults than do others. Subjects were observed in 21 groups of three, consisting of one adult and two same-sex infants. Adult subjects were unmarried, childless undergraduate women…

This study investigated the cognitive and behavioral functions associated with iron deficiency anemia in infants and toddlers and the short-term effects of therapy on such behaviors. Subjects were 24 iron deficient and anemic infants, 9 to 26 months old. The subjects were randomly assigned to a treatment or control group. The Bayley Scales of…

Human and geometric forms were presented to 12-month-old male infants to determine if infants with a large number of minor physical anomalies would show different habituation than infants with a small number. Differences were found in dishabituation and in response decrement. (Author/RH)

Examined the effect of heart rate and behavioral measures of attention on infants' distractibility. Found longer distraction latencies during attentional engagement as defined by heart rate changes or behavior than for inattentive periods. Infants had longest distraction latencies when heart rate and behavior measures both indicated engagement.…

Tested visual-perceptual, attentional, and visual-motor skills of 16 school-age children who had been born pre-term and "healthy," and 16 who had been born full-term. Found that compared to subjects born full-term, pre-term subjects performed well on most visual perception tasks, but less well on visual search and visual-motor tasks.…

Three experiments examined 4- to 10-month-olds' perception of audio-visual (A-V) temporal synchrony cues in the presence or absence of rhythmic pattern cues. Results established that infants of all ages could discriminate between two different audio-visual rhythmic events. Only 10-month-olds detected a desynchronization of the auditory and visual…

Three experiments investigated discrimination and memory of 5.5-month-olds for videotapes of women performing different activities (blowing bubbles, brushing hair, brushing teeth) or static displays after a 1-minute and a 7-week delay. Findings demonstrate the attentional salience of actions over faces in dynamic events to 5.5-month-olds. Findings…