Reports results of an experiment involving a hydranencephalic infant lacking cerebral hemispheres and a normal twin in testing for associative learning. Cardiac orienting responses to stimulus omission indicated that learning had taken place in both infants. (CS)

Reviews new developments in the field of child language acquisition that emphasize the role of communication and dialogue. Mentions work on precursors to dialogue in infancy, the development of communicative intent, and the importance of cognitive over syntactic strategies of language processing by the young child. (Author/SS)

Examines the validity of a maternal rating scale for pacifier-attachment in a laboratory setting. Once mothers' abilities to assess their children's attachment behavior were ascertained, a second study was designed to contrast the patterns of attachment to pacifiers, blankets, and hard objects in children between 1.5 and 63 months. (Author/MP)

Three experiments were conducted to examine whether infants can detect the color of stationary and moving objects and maintain this discrimination over change in velocity. Subjects were 80 infants ages 8 to 20 weeks. (MP)

Focuses on definition of sensitivity, developmental changes in sensitivity, and clinical implications of attachment. Maintains that promptness, consistency, and appropriateness are the main components of sensitivity across parenting dimensions. Suggests that studying infant antecedents to attachment security is equally important to that of parent…

Investigated the social interactions of 18 Taiwanese infants and toddlers with a baby in a group setting. Compared videotaped responses and other mediating issues with those of American children in a similar scenario. Found that Taiwanese toddlers demonstrated significantly more interactions toward the baby than did American toddlers. Children…

Examined validity of Strange Situation attachment classifications for infants with and without extensive child-care experience and the association of early child-care experience with attachment security. Found that infants were less likely to be secure when low maternal sensitivity was combined with poor quality child care, more than minimal…

Thirteen infants were presented with a moving object under two lighting conditions to investigate the role of vision in early reaching. Infants were tested twice, at 5 and 7.5 months of age. The results suggest that proprioceptive feedback and sight of the target allowed for successful reaching with limited visual information, even in relatively…

Investigated effects of older siblings on imitation by 12-, 15-, and 18-month-olds. Found that all age groups acquired one to two new behaviors per day through imitation. Older infants imitated more multi-step sequences and substituted more objects during reenactment than younger. Compared to infants without siblings, infants with siblings…

Investigated development of face-to-face communication in infants between 1 and 14 weeks old and their mothers. Found a curvilinear development of early face-to-face communication, with increases occurring between weeks 4 and 9. When placed on a sofa, infants' face-to-face communication was longer than when they were held. Girls spent a longer…

Five experiments used a categorization habituation-of-looking paradigm to investigate infants' categorization of animals and vehicles based on static versus dynamic attributes of stimuli (color images versus dynamic point-light displays). Findings showed that 6-month-olds categorize animals and vehicles based on static and dynamic information, and…

Investigated attachment security and behavior in 34 physically disabled infants and 26 non-disabled infants using convergent, categorical, and continuous (Attachment Behavior Q-Set) measures of relationship, based on the same set of home observations. Proportions of attachment classifications were identical for each group, but insecure disabled…

Studied the early development of exploratory behavior in 99 infants of 2-5 months. Results show that there are significant changes in spontaneous multimodal exploration of a novel object between 2 and 5 months. (RJC)