This experiment examines extended learning over a 4-day period in infants exposed to responsive and unresponsive wooden mobiles. Frequency of kicks and attention to the mobile increased over the first three days and was found to vary with the introduction of a novel mobile on day four. (GO)

Selected vocal and gestural imitation items were presented to twenty-four 8-, 14- and 20-month-old boys and girls in an elicited task situation. Both vocal and gestural imitation increased with age, although for each age group there was significantly more gestural than vocal imitation. (BD)

Contending that developmental disability is defined by cognitive and affective performance as well as hazardous biological events, the authors consider multiple factors as cumulative in placing an infant at risk for future developmental disability. A risk scoring system based on biological and behavioral factors in an additive manner is presented.…

Discussion focuses on the development of experimental techniques which have revealed a competent infant, one who is both sensitive to his external environment and capable of modifying and being modified by that environment. (Author)

Results demonstrate that 12 - 15 - week-old male infants smile to nonsocial stimuli, and offers support for the recognition hypothesis of infant smiling. (Authors/MB)

The influence of age, sex, representational detail of objects (prototypicality) and adult play suggestions on children's progression of pretend behaviors was studied. A checklist was developed and utilized for coding the responses of 20 children (10 males, 10 females), to objects judged to be high and low prototypical by 12 adults. Children ranged…

In order to determine if infants possessed contingency awareness and if it were related to a temporal unit, two hypotheses were constructed. (1) Reinforcement of a response would probably lead to emission of that response only if the infant's next response occurred within a period of time during which he could remember the preceding…

This study used the behavioral contrast paradigm to assess the excitatory and inhibitory capabilities of young infants. Behavioral contrast is described as the phenomenon whereby the rates of responding in the presence of two stimuli, both of which were previously associated with reinforcement, change in opposite directions when only one of them…

Theories and descriptions of various infant fear behaviors are presented in this paper. Five examples of fear are given: (1) learned fear, in which the infant associates some unpleasant action with an agent, (2) unlearned fear, in which the infant experiences an intense sensory phenomena such as a loud noise, (3) stranger anxiety, (4) fear caused…

A report is presented which relates to a general hypothesis suggested by previous data on visual response to faces that in the first weeks of life infants develop expectations regarding the human face. Three predictions were made: (1) Silent human faces would elicit less direct regard than faces accompanied by voices; (2) A familiar face would…

Stimulus screening characterizes the degree to which an individual automatically and selectively responds to stimulation. Reliability and validity data are presented for a verbal questionnaire measure of child stimulus screening which employs mother reports. (Author/JKS)

Presents a study of decalage between object permanence and person permanence. Decalage was influenced by environmental as well as stimulus factors with infants tested between 6- and 81/4-months/of-age. (BD)

Results suggest that the human infant's response to visual stimulation undergoes change during the neonatal period. (Authors)