Infants’ expressive behaviors to mothers and unfamiliar partners during face-to-face interactions from 4 to 10 months

Changes in the organization of infant looking, facial expressions, and vocalizations were examined over age (4, 7, and 10 months) and with different social partners. Although infants at all ages accompanied smiling with looking at both mothers and unfamiliar partners, 7- and 10-month infants accompanied vocalization with looking only when they were with mothers. Seven- and 10-month-olds vocalized with unfamiliar partners only when they were smiling at the same time. When mothers stopped talking, infants reduced smiling significantly at all ages, yet vocalized more at 10 months. In the second half of the first year, there are fundamental changes in the coordination of infant expressive behaviors that reveal a keen attunement to variations in maternal behavior and the familiarity of social partners.     

Maternal distancing and event memory at 20 months

Maternal distancing strategies (Sigel, 1993 in The Development and Meaning of Psychological Distance , Cocking R, Renninger KA (eds). Erlbaum: Hillsdale, NJ; 141–158) with 20‐month‐olds were analysed during a mother–child interaction in a free play situation. Then, they were related to memory performance of the children as assessed by the elicited imitation paradigm with 4 three‐step sequences of actions (Bauer, Hertsgaard, Child Dev. 1993; 64 :1204). The aim of this work was to (1) confirm that the Sigel's model of distancing could be used with very young children under two; (2) study relationships between maternal distancing that stimulate representational competence of the child and memory performance of the children. Results showed two different patterns of correlations depending on the sequence type: for enabling sequences, significant positive correlations were obtained for the first two distancing levels whereas for arbitrary sequences no correlation was found whatever the distancing level. As discussed, the first pattern brings new arguments in support of declarative memory before the age of 2 years and reframes the memory development in a Vygotskyian interactionist perspective. The second pattern of correlations calls for replication and more investigation about the processes implied in memory of very young children for different sequence types. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Category Representation in Young Infants

Results obtained from a novelty-preference procedure indicate that young infants possess abilities to organize objects into perceptual categories that have conceptual significance for adults. This work suggests that the initial construction of category representations is not dependent on language, formal instruction, or specialized processes, and that category development may proceed through a process of enrichment.     

婴儿视觉自我认知的微观发生研究

本研究采用微观发生设计,对大连市15名婴儿在15个月时用摄像追踪观察至23个月,每周观察一次.目的在于探讨婴儿视觉自我认知的具体发生时间和个体差异,以及视觉自我认知各指标的发生顺序.结果表明:(1)婴儿视觉自我认知在15～23个月间发生,随年龄增长而提高;(2)婴儿视觉自我认知一般发生于17.25个月;(3)视觉自我认知并非突然出现,而是从不稳定到稳定的渐进发展过程,在发生过程中存在个体差异;(4)视觉自我认知各指标相继发生,镜像自我认知是视觉自我认知最早出现的标志,随后是客体定向能力、照片自我认知.     

Infant Mental Health assessment: the use of DC 0-3 in an outpatient child psychiatric clinic in Scandinavia

The study focuses on Infant Mental Health data from an outpatient psychiatric clinic using the "Diagnostic Classification of Mental Health and Developmental Disorders of Infancy and Early Childhood" (DC 0-3) and parental questionnaires, CBCL and ITSC. In total, 138 infants (aged 0-3) went through the diagnostic procedure. Sixty-eight per cent were diagnosed within Axis I, with regulatory disorder, disorder of affect and traumatic stress disorder being the most frequent diagnoses. In addition, 48% were classified as having a relationship disorder according to Axis II, with an additional 40% being considered to be at risk of developing a relationship disorder. The mothers' and fathers' ratings of their children's externalized and sensitivity problems were in agreement with the clinicians, but the ratings of internalized problems as well as relationship problems presented a more complex pattern.     

Both maternal sensitivity and atypical maternal behavior independently predict attachment security and disorganization in adolescent mother-infant relationships

Extant theory holds that variation in attachment security is largely determined by caregiver sensitivity whereas disorganization has its roots in atypical interactions that frighten the infant. These hypotheses were confirmed in the current study of a high-risk sample but, contrary to current theory, both atypical maternal behavior and maternal sensitivity were also significant independent predictors of attachment disorganization and security.     

Patterns of maternal responding in postpartum mothers with schizophrenia

Little is known about how schizophrenia might affect how a mother responds to her infant, such as whether responding is reduced or impaired. The aim was to identify, from brief videotaped interactions, whether the responses of mothers with schizophrenia were fewer, less positive, more negative, and more ‘abnormal’ than mothers with affective disorder, and whether their infants (mean age: 15 weeks) lacked activity or initiation to which mothers could respond. Mothers with schizophrenia (N = 14) were as responsive as mothers with affective disorder (N = 31), but they showed markedly low positive responsiveness. Only the schizophrenia group exhibited non-responses as a result of being psychologically withdrawn from the interaction, and abnormal behaviors. Inconsistent to our hypothesis, infants in both groups showed similar levels of activity, initiative and negativity. The findings highlight the need for further research to examine the contribution of maternal response impairments to the developmental vulnerability of this genetically high-risk group.     

The 'self' in analytical psychology: the function of the 'central archetype' within Fordham's model

This paper concerns the self as Fordham came to conceive it after a conceptual analysis of Jung's use of the term. Fordham identified a contradiction in Jung's usage, and resolved it by reserving 'self' for a definition of the psychosomatic entirety of the individual, and using a separate term for referring to expressions of the self in human experience (e.g. symbols). Fordham tentatively suggested that the latter be termed the 'central archetype', although this was neither developed nor dropped. I explore the value of this term from a developmental perspective and, more specifically in terms of the deintegration of psyche out of an early psychosomatic unity. This draws upon infant research and an observation of a 14-month old boy. Finally, further developments are briefly described and illustrated, whereby pre-symbolic expressions of the central archetype become symbolic and come to reflect what was for Jung, the 'ultimate', 'Formation, Transformation, Eternal Mind's eternal recreation'.     

Self‐generated variability in object images predicts vocabulary growth

Object names are a major component of early vocabularies and learning object names depends on being able to visually recognize objects in the world. However, the fundamental visual challenge of the moment‐to‐moment variations in object appearances that learners must resolve has received little attention in word learning research. Here we provide the first evidence that image‐level object variability matters and may be the link that connects infant object manipulation to vocabulary development. Using head‐mounted eye tracking, the present study objectively measured individual differences in the moment‐to‐moment variability of visual instances of the same object, from infants’ first‐person views. Infants who generated more variable visual object images through manual object manipulation at 15 months of age experienced greater vocabulary growth over the next six months. Elucidating infants’ everyday visual experiences with objects may constitute a crucial missing link in our understanding of the developmental trajectory of object name learning.     

Comparing statistical learning across perceptual modalities in infancy: An investigation of underlying learning mechanism(s)

Statistical learning (SL), sensitivity to probabilistic regularities in sensory input, has been widely implicated in cognitive and perceptual development. Little is known, however, about the underlying mechanisms of SL and whether they undergo developmental change. One way to approach these questions is to compare SL across perceptual modalities. While a decade of research has compared auditory and visual SL in adults, we present the first direct comparison of visual and auditory SL in infants (8–10 months). Learning was evidenced in both perceptual modalities but with opposite directions of preference: Infants in the auditory condition displayed a novelty preference, while infants in the visual condition showed a familiarity preference. Interpreting these results within the Hunter and Ames model (1988), where familiarity preferences reflect a weaker stage of encoding than novelty preferences, we conclude that there is weaker learning in the visual modality than the auditory modality for this age. In addition, we found evidence of different developmental trajectories across modalities: Auditory SL increased while visual SL did not change for this age range. The results suggest that SL is not an abstract, amodal ability; for the types of stimuli and statistics tested, we find that auditory SL precedes the development of visual SL and is consistent with recent work comparing SL across modalities in older children.