Measures of infant self-regulation during the first year of life: A systematic review

This study aimed to systematically review the measures used to assess infant self-regulation during the first 12 months of life. This systematic review was conducted according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis statement protocol. From 235 selected papers, 79 provided information on behavioural and physiological measures to assess infant self-regulation during the first 12 months of life. Thirty-six behavioural (30 observational and 6 parent-report) and five physiological different measures were identified. Studies with a longitudinal design, comprising larger samples, and aiming to assess infant self-regulation later in infancy, mostly used behavioural measures than physiological measures. Studies comprising lower samples and aiming to assess infant self-regulation earlier in infancy, mostly used observational than parent-reported measures. Studies targeting younger infants used physiological measures and studies targeting older infants used behavioural measures, with observational measures used with younger infants and parental-reported measures used with older infants during the first year of life. When measuring self-regulation is important to consider infant's age, to fit the measurement procedures with the self-regulation development level.     

The relationship between joint attention and theory of mind in neurotypical adults

Joint attention (JA) is hypothesized to have a close relationship with developing theory of mind (ToM) capabilities. We tested the co-occurrence of ToM and JA in social interactions between adults with no reported history of psychiatric illness or neurodevelopmental disorders. Participants engaged in an experimental task that encouraged nonverbal communication, including JA, and also ToM activity. We adapted an in-lab variant of experience sampling methods (Bryant et al., 2013) to measure ToM during JA based on participants’ subjective reports of their thoughts while performing the task. This experiment successfully elicited instances of JA in 17/20 dyads. We compared participants’ thought contents during episodes of JA and non-JA. Our results suggest that, in adults, JA and ToM may occur independently.     

Predictions of developmental patterns during infancy: Assessments of children 0–1 years

The present study investigated how neonatal behavioural organization was related to later mental development during the first year of life. The study further investigated the relationship between early social affective behaviour and later mental development. A group of 40 infants was assessed five times during the infants' first year, at three and 14 days and at four, eight and 12 months. The Brazelton Neonatal Behavioural Assessment Scale (NBAS), the Duve method (a clinically based method for observation of social affective behaviour), and Griffiths' Mental Development Scales were used to assess the development of the infants. The results indicate that early predictive behavioural components can be identified. Neonatal state control capacity was related to motor development at both eight and 12 months. Social responsitivity at four months was related to hearing and speech at eight as well as at 12 months. The NBAS dimensions were good predictors of eight months performance, but were poor predictors of 12 months performance.     

IMPACT OF JOINT ATTENTION ON SOCIAL‐COMMUNICATION SKILLS IN INTERNATIONALLY ADOPTED CHILDREN

Internationally adopted (IA) children have often experienced early adversity and are at risk for long‐term deficiencies in multiple developmental domains. This study examined the association between IA children's joint attention (JA) soon after arrival and later cognitive, communicative, and socioemotional competency 6 months’ postadoption. We expected a child's initial JA would positively predict later cognitive, communication, and social ability. IA children (n = 63) adopted from Eastern Europe were seen soon after their arrival into the United States to assess their JA. Their socioemotional competency, social communication, and cognitive abilities were measured at a follow‐up session 6 months’ postadoption. We found that higher order JA was positively associated with measures of social relatedness. Furthermore, individual hierarchical regressions of each measure of JA (higher order JA, initiating JA, responding to JA, and initiating behavior requests [BR]) considered with age‐at‐adoption showed that each measure was an independent and positive predictor of Mullen outcomes in the receptive and expressive language domains. These results suggest that JA may be a sensitive predictor of subsequent functioning in the social, communicative, and cognitive domains. Thus, assessing JA soon after arrival has the potential to identify at‐risk IA children, and interventions targeting JA may support those children in overcoming the negative impacts of early adversity.     

The organization of attention in typical development: A new preschool attention test battery

This article introduces a new battery of attention tests for typically developing and atypically developing children with a mental age of 3–6 years. In the light of adult and child studies supporting a model of distinct networks for specific attentional operations, tests in the current battery were selected with the aim of measuring functions of selective attention, sustained attention and attentional control (executive function). Normative data were collected from 154 typically developing children aged 3–6 years and examined using exploratory factor analysis to determine latent constructs underlying test performance. This analysis suggested increasing differentiation of attention functions over the age range, with support for the hypothesized three‐factor model only after 4½ years of age. Additional analyses supported the validity of the new attention battery with respect to (1) parent/teacher report measures of everyday attention behaviour and (2) later performance on the Test of Everyday Attention for Children (TEA‐Ch), a battery designed for children aged 6–16 years. The results show the developing differentiation of attention functions and support the ecological and predictive validity of the battery as providing early performance‐based measures of attention and an attention ‘profile’ for each individual child, which may aid characterization and remediation of neurodevelopmental disorders.     

Youth Life Satisfaction: A Review of the Literature

A central construct within the positive psychology literature is life satisfaction. Whereas adult life satisfaction has been studied extensively, the life satisfaction of children and adolescents has only received attention more recently. This article provides a review of the extant research on youth life satisfaction. Empirical studies (n = 141) on life satisfaction among youth are reviewed. The review details how life satisfaction among youth relates to various other important emotional, social, and behavioural constructs. Evidenced by the review are the conditions that foster positive life satisfaction and the implications of positive life satisfaction among youth. Future directions in life satisfaction research among youth are briefly discussed.     

Situation Awareness Requirements for Infantry Platoon Leaders

Situation awareness (SA) is a construct closely linked to decision making and performance. Identifying SA requirements for specific jobs is a necessary first step in accurately assessing SA, developing training programs to enhance SA skills, and evaluating the impact of new technology on SA. This research identified the SA requirements for infantry small unit leaders. Six highly experienced infantry subject matter experts were given semi-structured, in-depth interviews. The resulting SA requirements hierarchy contained 7 primary goals and multiple subgoals. Situation awareness requirements are job and mission specific. The methods used here may be adapted to identify SA requirements in other domains characterized by small, cohesive teams operating in dynamic environments and as the basis for developing SA metrics in these domains.     

Work Family Conflict Among Parents of Atypically Developing Children: Exploring the Impact of Worker,Work, and Child Factors

The purpose of this research was to examine the impact of worker characteristics (e.g., time spent caring for others), workplace support, and child characteristics on work family conflict among parents of atypically developing children. Participants (N = 51) were employed parents of atypically developing children who completed measures of work family conflict, workplace supports (i.e., supervisory support and organizationally supportive cultures), the availability and use of family supportive workplace programs, child characteristics, and worker characteristics. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicated that worker and child characteristics significantly predicted work family conflict, work in family interference, and family in work interference. In addition, workplace supports significantly predicted work family conflict and family in work interference. Implications of the results for managing the work family life interface are discussed.     

Plasticity during childhood and adolescence: innovative approaches to investigating neurocognitive development

Adolescence is a period of profound change, which holds substantial developmental milestones, but also unique challenges to the individual. In this opinion paper, we highlight the potential of combining two recently developed behavioural and neural training techniques (cognitive bias modification and functional magnetic neuroimaging‐based neurofeedback) into a research approach that could help make the most of increased levels of plasticity during childhood and adolescence. We discuss how this powerful combination could be used to explore changing brain–behaviour relationships throughout development in the context of emotion processing, a cognitive domain that exhibits continuous development throughout the second decade of life. By targeting both behaviour and brain response, we would also be in an excellent position to define sensible time windows for enhancing plasticity, thereby allowing for targeted intervention approaches that can help improve emotion processing in both typically and atypically developing populations.     

Behavioural aspects of the management of diabetes mellitus: Education,self-care and metabolic control

A review is presented of factors relevant to the level of the knowledge, self-care and metabolic control of diabetic patients. Methods of assessing each of these are described, and ways of improving them reviewed. Recommendations are made for further work in this field.It is suggested that traditional education programmes have little clinical value beyond improving knowledge about diabetes. Among the recommendations made are approaches to the assessment and change of relevant health beliefs, and the use of behavioural methods of self-regulation, to improve the quality of self-care. The difficulties created by the variety of factors influencing metabolic control are discussed, with particular attention to the relevance of emotional stress.     

Arousal,Suppression, and Persistence: Frustration Theory,Attention, and its Disorders

Abstract

In this article I deal first with the relevance of theories of frustration and general persistence to the concept of attention, and offer an interpretation of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in terms of persistence deficits. After summarising these theories and the manner in which they integrate the concepts of arousal, suppression, and persistence, I describe relevant developmental work in infant rats comprising an ontogenetic sequence of first appearance of a number of reward-schedule effects, and suggest their possible utility as a behavioural assay. Finally, I briefly review neuroanatomical and behavioural work on fetal alcohol and its possible implications for theories of attention and hyperactivity, and provide some data from experiments on fetal alcohol effects in infant rats which may have some relevance to such an interpretation.     

Infant recall memory and communication predicts later cognitive development

This longitudinal study investigates the relation between recall memory and communication in infancy and later cognitive development. Twenty-six typically developing Swedish children were tested during infancy for deferred imitation (memory), joint attention (JA), and requesting (nonverbal communication); they also were tested during childhood for language and cognitive competence. Results showed that infants with low performance on both deferred imitation at 9 months and joint attention at 14 months obtained a significantly lower score on a test of cognitive abilities at 4 years of age. This long-term prediction from preverbal infancy to childhood cognition is of interest both to developmental theory and to practice.     

More than a matter of getting ‘unstuck’: flexible thinkers use more abstract representations than perseverators

Why do people perseverate, repeating prior behaviours that are no longer appropriate? Many accounts point to isolated deficits in processes such as inhibition or attention. We instead posit a fundamental difference in rule representations: flexible switchers use active representations that rely on later‐developing prefrontal cortical areas and are more abstract, whereas perseverators use latent representations that rely on earlier‐developing posterior cortical and subcortical areas and are more stimulus‐specific. Thus, although switchers and perseverators should apply the rules they use to familiar stimuli equally reliably, perseverators should show unique limitations in generalizing their rules to novel stimuli, a process that requires abstract representations. Two behavioural experiments confirmed this counterintuitive prediction early in development. Three‐year‐old children sorted cards by one rule, were asked to switch to another rule, and then were asked simply to continue their behaviour, with novel cards. Perseverators applied the rule they were using (the first rule) just as reliably as switchers applied the rule they were using (the second rule) with familiar cards; however, only switchers generalized their rule to novel cards. This finding supports an early link between active representations that support switching and abstract representations that support generalization. We interpret this synergy in terms of prefrontal cortical development.     

On the Iatrogenic Risk of Assessing Suicidality: A Meta‐Analysis

Previous studies have failed to detect an iatrogenic effect of assessing suicidality. However, the perception that asking about suicide may induce suicidality persists. This meta‐analysis quantitatively synthesized research concerning the iatrogenic risks of assessing suicidality. This review included studies that explicitly evaluated the iatrogenic effects of assessing suicidality via prospective research methods. Thirteen articles were identified that met inclusion criteria. Evaluation of the pooled effect of assessing suicidality with regard to negative outcomes did not demonstrate significant iatrogenic effects. Our findings support the appropriateness of universal screening for suicidality, and should allay fears that assessing suicidality is harmful.     

The role of neuroimaging in the discovery of processing stages a review

In this contribution we show how neuroimaging methods can augment behavioural methods to discover processing stages. Event Related Brain Potentials (ERPs), Brain Electrical Source Analysis (BESA) and regional changes in cerebral blood flow (rCBF) do not necessarily require behavioural responses. With the aid of rCBF we are able to discover several cortical and subcortical brain systems (processors) active in selective attention and memory search tasks. BESA describes cortical activity with high temporal resolution in terms of a limited number of neural generators within these brain systems. The combination of behavioural methods and neuroimaging provides a picture of the functional architecture of the brain. The review is organized around three processors: the Visual, Cognitive and Manual Motor Processors.     

On being the object of attention: implications for self-other consciousness

Joint attention to an external object at the end of the first year is typically believed to herald the infant's discovery of other people's attention. I will argue that mutual attention in the first months of life already involves an awareness of the directedness of attention. The self is experienced as the first object of this directedness followed by gradually more distal 'objects'. This view explains early infant affective self-consciousness within mutual attention as emotionally meaningful, rather than as bearing only a spurious similarity to that in the second and third years of life. Such engagements precede and must inform, rather than derive from, conceptual representations of self and other, and can be better described as self-other conscious affects.     

Comparing methods for measuring peak look duration: Are individual differences observed on screen-based tasks also found in more ecologically valid contexts?

Convergent research points to the importance of studying the ontogenesis of sustained attention during the early years of life, but little research hitherto has compared and contrasted different techniques available for measuring sustained attention. Here, we compare methods that have been used to assess one parameter of sustained attention, namely infants’ peak look duration to novel stimuli. Our focus was to assess whether individual differences in peak look duration are stable across different measurement techniques. In a single cohort of 42 typically developing 11-month-old infants we assessed peak look duration using six different measurement paradigms (four screen-based, two naturalistic). Zero-order correlations suggested that individual differences in peak look duration were stable across all four screen-based paradigms, but no correlations were found between peak look durations observed on the screen-based and the naturalistic paradigms. A factor analysis conducted on the dependent variable of peak look duration identified two factors. All four screen-based tasks loaded onto the first factor, but the two naturalistic tasks did not relate, and mapped onto a different factor. Our results question how individual differences observed on screen-based tasks manifest in more ecologically valid contexts.     

Preimaginal induction of adult behaviour in insects

This review illustrates the role of preimaginal experiences in four main aspects of insect life: feeding, habitat choice, host selection, and social relationships. After an illustration of the two former aspects with examples taken from various species, special attention is paid to the two latter aspects. First, an experiment is described, which demonstrates the existence of preimaginal induction involved in host selection by the solitary parasitoid wasp Dinarmus basalis (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae). Then, a review of preimaginal induction in ants' behaviour is presented; orientation of social behaviour, particularly altruism, is mainly determined by preimaginal imprinting. All the examples developed in this review clearly show that insects can no longer be considered as strictly, rigidly “pre-programmed” beings. Their complex behavioural development and plasticity is clearly documented.     

Brain plasticity,learning, and developmental disabilities

This is a time of significant gains in methodological development for examining the developing human brain. New efforts are underway to unify the understanding of the development of brain anatomy with physiological, cellular and molecular processes that influence behavioral development. This special issue provides animal models of behavior and brain development, applications of noninvasive imaging and genetic methods to human brain development and behavior, and select reviews of how these models and methods have been applied to the examination of developmental disabilities. This issue reflects a sampling of current approaches to the study of brain plasticity, development and learning in typically and atypically developing humans and animals.     

Toward a behavioral analysis of joint attention

Joint attention (JA) initiation is defined in cognitive-developmental psychology as a child's actions that verify or produce simultaneous attending by that child and an adult to some object or event in the environment so that both may experience the object or event together. This paper presents a contingency analysis of gaze shift in JA initiation. The analysis describes reinforcer-establishing and evocative effects of antecedent objects or events, discriminative and conditioned reinforcing functions of stimuli generated by adult behavior, and socially mediated reinforcers that may maintain JA behavior. A functional analysis of JA may describe multiple operant classes. The paper concludes with a discussion of JA deficits in children with autism spectrum disorders and suggestions for research and treatment.