Results obtained from 27 infants ranging in age from 10 to 12 weeks indicated that infants develop expectancies regarding how stimuli occurring in particular contexts should behave based on their prior experiences with these stimuli. (Author/RH)

Two experiments investigated the ability of 3-month-olds to acquire generalized expectancies of reward and the role of these expectancies in memory retrieval. In both experiments, infants exhibited positive transfer over invariant and variable stimulus series; however, in the second experiment, violations of either expected order produced a…

Two experiments examined changes in the search of infants aged six, seven, and eight months. Experiment 1 found that the majority of infants displayed transitional search before intentional search. Experiment 2 showed that the infants' awareness of a hidden object develops gradually. (Author/RH)

Although previous research with adult humans and nonhumans has suggested a relationship between sleep behavior and brain serotonin levels, no studies have been made of the relationship of normal children's or infants' sleep patterns to serotonin levels, tryptophan metabolism, or diet. This study investigates the relationship between dietary…

Results show that at eight months of age ability to identify the site of an event after reorientation is based on the spatial relationship between the event and environmental features. The latter include features associated with room shape as well as a landmark at the site of the event. (Author/RH)

A total of 23 infants were longitudinally studied to ascertain how kind and amount of prereaching activity changes with age during the first four months of life. Substantial changes were observed in the pattern of prereaching around two months of age. (RH)

Two experiments were conducted to test effects of infants' ability to locomote on their social and exploratory behaviors. Results indicated that walker-assisted or independent locomotion afforded similar experiences within a standard environment but experiences quite different from those of the nonlocomoting infant. (Author/RH)

Investigates the effect of target size and presence, intensity, and location of sound on the visual following of infants one and two months of age. (Author/RH)

Temporal stability of play behavior and its consistency among toys differing in complexity was assessed by observing 40 eight-month-old infants. The relationship of stability of play to temperament was examined. Findings support the idea that behavioral consistency in infancy is similar to that reported for older children. (RH)

Two experiments assessed the importance of form versus function in 2-year-old infants' categorizations. Nonsense objects were constructed to independently vary form and function. Adults differentially directed subjects' attention to one or the other stimulus dimension. It was hypothesized that children's conceptualizations would vary as a function…

The major purpose of this study was to examine bimodal coordination of featural stimuli in infancy. Specifically of interest was infant sensitivity to the auditory and visual combinations that characterize male and female stimulus configurations. A total of 27 male and 27 female subjects of 3, 6, and 9 months of age participated in the study.…

Investigated in three studies were responses of 18- and 24-month-old children to a series of commands. Results suggest that a potent incentive for obeying commands lies in the pleasure very young children take in fitting their actions to the words of others. This pleasure sustains subsequent reenactment of the actions without commands. (Author/RH)

Investigates the use of the Bayley Infant Behavior Record (IBR) with premature and full-term infants. Analysis of the two discriminant functions obtained from the discriminant analysis appear to substantiate the claim that the IBR is an index of cognitive test-taking behaviors, which can be used reliably with preterm and full-term infants.…

Seven-month-old infants looked at pairs of slides of two and three objects while listening to either two or three drum beats. Study data call into question the suggestion that the influence of auditory information on infants' attentiveness to a visually presented numerical event is mediated by cross-modal matching of numerical information.…

Infants 6 1/2 months of age were first trained to discriminate a very salient speech contrast and subsequently were tested for their recognition of the contrast when it was embedded within redundant or mixed "context" syllables. Also assessed was the effect on recognition of positioning the target syllable differently within a…