Individual differences in pattern of habituation in fixation time and cardiac change to visual and auditory stimuli are described. Subjects were 94 5- and 10-month-old infants. (Author/MP)

Localization responses to octave-band noises with center frequencies at 200, 400, 1000, 2000, 4000, and 10,000 Hz were obtained from infants 6, 12, and 18 months old in order to investigate infants' auditory sensitivity. (MP)

Analyzed effects of modeling and contingent praise on infant imitation of three responses: motor-with-toy, motor-without-toy, or vocal. Found a systematic increase in the percentages of training and probe models matched by the three 12- to 14-month-olds following introduction of model-and-praise treatment conditions. Nonmatching responses did not…

Longitudinal data indicated a significant relation between five-month vagal tone and negative reactivity elicited in the laboratory and maternal ratings of activity level and smiling behavior. Newborn vagal tone predicted maternal ratings of frustration and fear. Moderate stability was found for infant reactivity. (RH)

When an object moves behind an occluder and re-emerges, 4-month-old infants perceive trajectory continuity only when the occluder is narrow, raising the question of whether time or distance out of sight is the important constraining variable. One hundred and forty 4-month-olds were tested in five experiments aimed to disambiguate time and distance…

The nature and significance of the conditioning of fetal and neonatal response systems for later learning was not clearly understood. Therefore, subjects chosen for this research project were people who had been trained in experiential recall. During recall the subjects spontaneously reported what appeared to be auditory components of a complex…

In this study designed to compare the relative pacifying properties of horizontal and vertical rocking, 13 infants (mean age--58 days) were each tested on two subsequent days. The rocking device was a cradle that could be manipulated to produce side-to-side rocking similar to a commercial cradle or up-and-down rocking. In its up-and-down mode, the…

A study was conducted to examine the situational generality of extended learning in early infancy. Ss were 17 infants within one week of eight weeks of age. All but two were Caucasian, and all were from middle-income families. The apparatus consisted of a pressure sensing pillow which, when placed under the infant's head or feet, was sensitive to…

Forty infants, 10 at 4, 6, 8, and 10 months, were confronted by an experimenter who acted out angry, happy, sad, and neutral facial experssions, accompanied with appropriate vocalizations. The infants' responses were recorded on video tape and rated for attention, negative and positive affect, and activity. Results indicate that the 4-month old…

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…

Measures of active sleep, quiet sleep, sucking, crying, body size and gestational age were factor analyzed for 137 normal newborns at 2 days of age. The results yielded 3 stable factors: reactivity-irritability, maturity, and reflexive and discriminative sucking. (JMB)

Theories of imitation learning are examined regarding their account of how the infant acquires the ability to emit a response which resembles a response previously exhibited by another. The role of cognition in imitation learning theory is discussed. (BRT)

Examines the extent to which an infant's social initiative resists or is modified by three variations in the behavior of adult responsiveness: repeated responses, varied responses, and eye aversion. (HOD)