Developmental Psychology

Kaitz, Marsha; Meschulach-Sarfaty, Orna; Auerbach, Judith; Eidelman, Arthur

doi: 10.1037/0012-1649.24.1.3pmid: N/A

The ability to imitate facial expressions was examined in 26 newborns. Each subject observed a model showing tongue protrusion or a happy, sad, or surprised face. The frequencies of reproduction of a modeled act were compared with the average frequencies of the act during periods when other actions were modeled. A trials-to-criterion design was used. When infants observed the emotional facial expressions (happy, sad, surprise), they often responded by opening their mouths or showing lip pouts, but did not show imitative-like matching of these modeled expressions. However, when tongue protrusion was modeled, the infants did reproduce the modeled gesture. These data raise the question of whether the infants’ responses to modeled facial expressions reflect true imitation, stimulus-evoked elicitation, or a stereotyped “facial gesture.”

Morrongiello, Barbara A.

doi: 10.1037/0012-1649.24.1.8pmid: N/A

Localization acuity was examined by determining the smallest sound shift off midline and along the horizontal axis that infants could reliably discriminate (i.e., minimum audible angle). Infants 6, 9, 12, 15, and 18 months of age were seated in a dark room facing an array of nine loudspeakers positioned along the horizontal axis and at ear level. One loudspeaker was positioned at midline, 0°, and four others each were positioned to the right and left of 0°. A two-alternative forced-choice procedure was used in conjunction with a method of constant stimuli. A sequence of white-noise bursts was presented initially at 0° and was then shifted horizontally (right or left of 0°). The sequence continued to be presented until the infant made a directional head or eye movement, or both. Correct responses were visually reinforced. With increasing age, infants demonstrated a finer partitioning of auditory space along the horizontal axis. At 6 months, only a location shift of at least 12° off midline was reliably discriminated, whereas, by 18 months, infants reliably discriminated a shift of only 4°.

Grieser, DiAnne L.; Kuhl, Patricia K.

doi: 10.1037/0012-1649.24.1.14pmid: N/A

The prosodic features of maternal speech addressed to 2-month-old infants were measured quantitatively in a tonal language, Mandarin Chinese, to determine whether the features are similar to those observed in nontonal languages such as English and German. Speech samples were recorded when 8 Mandarin-speaking mothers addressed an adult and their own infants. Eight prosodic features were measured by computer: fundamental frequency (pitch), frequency range per sample, frequency range per phrase, phrase duration, pause duration, number of phrases per sample, number of syllables per phrase, and the proportion of phrase time as opposed to pause time per sample. Results showed that fundamental frequency was significantly higher and exhibited a larger range over the entire sample as well as a larger range per phrase in infant-directed as opposed to adult-directed speech. Durational analyses indicated significantly shorter utterances and longer pauses in infant-directed speech. Significantly fewer phrases per sample, fewer syllables per phrase, and less phrase-time per sample occurred in infant-directed speech. This pattern of results for Mandarin motherese is similar to that reported in other languages and suggests that motherese may exhibit universal prosodic features.

Roberts, Kenneth

doi: 10.1037/0012-1649.24.1.21pmid: N/A

Two experiments using the habituation—dishabituation paradigm examined the 9-month-old infant’s ability to form and retrieve a basic-level category (bird). Results indicated that infants categorized when tested immediately and after a 5-min delay. Maternal interviews indicated that infants had little or no prior exposure to the target category. The findings provide direct evidence for retrieval of a novel, basic-level category prior to understanding the corresponding word. Formation and retrieval of the category did not require an extended learning process but were achieved under the conditions of the experiment itself. Finally, formation of a nonlinguistic category was achieved without the use of function information. Contrary to some accounts of the formation of linguistic categories, this suggests that form information may be a sufficient basis for categorization in the nonlinguistic domain. Such differences further support the need to investigate the two domains independently.

Siegel, Linda S.; Ryan, Ellen B.

doi: 10.1037/0012-1649.24.1.28pmid: N/A

The development of a variety of grammatical-sensitivity and phonological skills was studied in 138 normally achieving, 65 reading-disabled, 63 arithmetic-disabled, and 15 attention deficit disordered (hyperactive) children 7 to 14 years old. Word recognition and phonics skills were highly related, and reading comprehension and phonics skills were less so. Grammatical sensitivity and short-term memory were significantly correlated with a variety of reading skills. Children with a reading disability showed a significant lag in the development of grammatical sensitivity and short-term memory and an even greater deficit in phonological skills. The children with a specific arithmetic disability had adequate grammatical abilities, but below-average memory skills at all ages. Children with an attention deficit but normal achievement scores did not have any major difficulties except on a reading-comprehension task that appears to have significant memory and attention components. The acquisition of reading skills is closely related to the development of grammatical and phonological skills, and deficiencies in these areas are related to difficulties with the acquisition of written language skills.

Ellis, Norman R.; Palmer, Roland L.; Reeves, Clinton L.

doi: 10.1037/0012-1649.24.1.38pmid: N/A

Criteria for defining event-frequency encoding as automatic were assessed in two experiments. Children, college students, elderly, and mentally retarded persons were compared on an on-line word-frequency task in order to evaluate the developmental-invariance and intelligence-invariance hypotheses of Hasher and Zacks (1979). There were small but significant developmental trends in remembering frequency. Practice and feedback had no effects. Consistent individual differences over the three daily tests were found. The retarded were deficient in frequency processing. A second experiment compared kindergarten through college groups, elderly, and retarded persons, using a study—test method with pictures as stimuli. Other than kindergartners there were no developmental differences, nor was the retarded group different. The differences found in Experiment 1 were attributed to differences in language skills and not frequency processing per se. The data were interpreted as supporting Hasher and Zacks’ (1979, 1984) developmental- and intelligence-invariance hypotheses and meeting their criteria regarding an absence of feedback and practice effects.

Smith, J. David; Caplan, Janet

doi: 10.1037/0012-1649.24.1.46pmid: N/A

Children in several cultures seem to develop a similar cognitive style on the Matching Familiar Figures Test (MFFT). At first, they become more reflective (slow-accurate), then more fast-accurate. However, there are two impressions that qualify this account. First, the early MFFT development of Japanese children seems distinctive in that they become far more accurate on the MFFT, with small increases in latency. Second, in several cultures, error decreases may dominate latency increases in early development, implying that the MFFT measures cognitive competence as well as cognitive style. Evaluating either impression requires some way of quantifying speed and accuracy on the MFFT so that they can be directly compared across age and culture groups. We illustrate such an analysis with the MFFT records of 100 Chinese-American children, ages 6–10, and then reanalyze existing data to compare MFFT performance across four cultures. In all four cultures, error rates decrease more than latency increases. However, Japanese children’s unique development on the MFFT is supported. Although similar results have led some researchers to dismiss the MFFT as a style measure, we discuss why such a strong conclusion seems premature.

Howes, Carollee

doi: 10.1037/0012-1649.24.1.53pmid: N/A

The purpose of this article is to examine relations between aspects of early child care (age entered, full- or part-time structure, and number of child-care arrangements and their quality) and school adjustment. The early child-care experiences of 87 children who entered a laboratory elementary school at 3 years, 9 months of age were documented, and their first-grade adjustment was assessed 3 years after school entrance. Although single-parent families and families in which the mother was employed used more child care and enrolled their children at earlier ages, maternal education was more closely associated with children’s school adjustment than was maternal employment or marital status. After family characteristics were accounted for, academic progress, school skills, and few behavioral problems were predicted by high-quality, stable child care. The structure of the early child care (full- or part-time) was not associated with school adjustment.

Lamb, Michael E.; Hwang, Carl-Philip; Bookstein, Fred L.; Broberg, Anders; Hult, Gunilla; Frodi, Majt

doi: 10.1037/0012-1649.24.1.58pmid: N/A

One hundred forty firstborn Swedish children, averaging 16 months of age initially, participated in the study. All were on the waiting lists for child-care centers. Parents were interviewed about demographic variables, social support, and child temperament, the quality of home care was assessed, and children were observed interacting at home with familiar peers. Fifty-three children were then admitted to center day care, 33 were offered places in family day-care facilities, and 54 remained at home with their parents. Shortly after enrollment and again 1 year later, the quality of alternative care was assessed. In follow-up assessments 1 year after the initial interviews and observations, peer social skills, sociability with strange adults, and child personality (as rated by parents and care providers) were assessed. Type and quality of nonfamilial child care had no significant effect on these aspects of child development. The major determinants of personality maturity were background variables: High family socioeconomic status, high quality of home care, and easy temperament facilitated personality maturity. Availability of support from maternal grandparents had a smaller but significant effect. Prior social skills and age were the best predictors of peer social skills evidenced on the posttest.

Fleming, Alison S.; Ruble, Diane N.; Flett, Gordon L.; Shaul, David L.

doi: 10.1037/0012-1649.24.1.71pmid: N/A

This longitudinal study investigated the relation between mood, attitudes, and behaviors in a middle-income sample of first-time mothers. Self-report data were obtained from these women during pregnancy and at 1 and 3 months postpartum, and behavioral interactions between the mother and her infant were observed at 3 days and 1, 3, and 16 months postpartum. The main analyses revealed that pregnancy and postpartum mood states together explain a high proportion of the variance in mothers’ maternal attitudes during the postpartum, although postpartum mood has the greater predictive power. Additionally, prior experience with children is significantly associated with maternal attitudes at all time points. Moreover, at both 1 and 3 months postpartum, depressed mothers, relative to nondepressed mothers, exhibit fewer affectionate contact behaviors toward their infants and are less likely to respond to infant vocalizations by vocalizing themselves, and, at 3 months, a higher proportion of the depressed mothers had started bottle-feeding their infants. Finally, differences in maternal behavior between depressed and nondepressed mothers during the early postpartum period were no longer apparent at 16 months postpartum. The implications of these findings are discussed with particular reference to the interrelations between prior child-care experience, mood, and maternal responsiveness.