Newborn cardiac activity was analyzed in the context of the orienting response before and after a feeding, while sleeping and awake. Newborns tended to respond to stimuli with less variability when tested before feeding. The newborn's cardiac response to stimuli in different modalities is affected by arousal state and feeding condition. (ST)

In two experiments, forty 26-week-old infants were repeatedly exposed to an object and were then shown an object that was different from the original object in color, shape and/or texture. Results showed that looking and manipulation increased for the novel shape and texture objects and looking increased for the novel color object. (Author/JMB)

A six-month-old infant who can remove a transparent cloth from his hand when it is covered after he grasps a toy may not be able to remove an opaque cover. Alternative interpretations of the phenomenon, that is, degree of bimanual coordination and focus of attention, are discussed. (Author/MB)

Forty 10-month-old infants were given two minutes to explore tactually an object in a totally darkened room. Subsequently, during a two-minute test trial in the dark, 10 infants were given the same object and 10 were given a novel shape. Novel shapes were manipulated significantly longer than familiar forms. (RH)

Twenty-five one-year-olds were administered two tasks (each of which consisted of a familiarization stage followed by a recognition stage) in order to determine whether infants can recognize the shapes of objects by touch alone. (CM)

Cardiac response to stimulation of the left and right perioral region in infants was examined. Cardiac acceleration and ipsilateral head turning occurred more reliably to stimulation of the infant's right side than to stimulation of the left side. Results reflect a difference in sensitivity at the infant's two sides. (SDH)

This study investigated infants' differential responding to novel and familiar stimuli after familiarization in a different sensory modality. Results showed that infants gain information about the shape of objects from their oral experience with them and that this information can be transferred to the visual modality. (Author/JMB)

Four experiments studied the perception of the unity and boundaries of objects by 88 4-month-old infants who manipulated them out of the visual field. Infants perceived the unity/boundaries of these objects by detecting the motion patterns they themselves produced. Discrimination between motion patterns transferred from touch to vision. (SLD)

Reports two studies of infant exploration. In the first, age and characteristics of the object stimuli influenced 6-, 9- and 12-month-olds who manipulated a series of objects. Results of the second study suggested that different kinds of manipulation are used to explore changes in shape, texture, and weight. (Author/CB)

Results are discussed in terms of cognitive growth, the psychoanalytic notion of ambivalence, the role of stimulus context in eliciting laughter or fear, and a possible adaptive, stimulus-maintaining function of laughter. (Authors)

Analysis of audio and videotapes revealed an increase from an understanding of 5 to 469 words after training with a vibrotactile device and traditional aural-oral teaching techniques in a deaf two-year-old. Compared to younger hearing children, she exhibited similar developmental patterns for rate of acquisition and stages of lexical…

Infants ranging from 6 to 12 months were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: (1) allowed to look at a specified object, (2) allowed to look at and manipulate it, or (3) allowed to look at the object and to manipulate the transparent box in which it was encased. (JMB)

Infants of 12 months were tactually familiarized with either a hard or an elastic substance. Subjects subsequently were shown films of objects moving in patterns characteristic of either hard or elastic objects, and their eye movements were detected. Results suggested that quite young infants detect intermodel invariants specifying some substances…

Research on object exploration by infants addresses milestones in the process by normally developing infants, including spontaneous manipulation strategies. Implications for developmentalists working with high-risk preterm infants are noted, including the need for direct assistance in manipulation and for selection of materials. (CL)

Two experiments were conducted to investigate six-month-old infants' recognition memory for the shape of an object following unimodal (visual) and bimodal (visual and haptic) familiarization. Visual recognition memory was evident only when the conditions of familiarization and testing were identical. Two possible explanations are presented and…