Infant touching behaviour during mother–infant face‐to‐face interactions

The study of infant communication during mother–infant interactions has largely focused on infants' distal behaviours, while neglecting their more proximal behaviours, such as touch. Yet, touch is an important modality through which infants and mothers communicate; it is also a vital means through which infants self‐regulate and explore their surroundings. The present study was designed to investigate the touching behaviours of 44, 51/2‐month‐old, healthy, full‐term infants during face‐to‐face mother–infant interactions. A still‐face (SF) procedure was used in order to examine differences in the types and locations of infant touch across normal and perturbed interaction periods, when mothers exhibit changes in their emotional availability. Results revealed that infant touch varied with changes in maternal availability. During the SF period, when mothers were unavailable, infants used more active, soothing, and reactive tactile behaviours (stroke, finger, pat, and pull), and they spent more time touching themselves. In contrast, infants used mostly passive touch (static) during the Normal periods, when their mothers were available. They also spent a significant portion of time touching their mothers. The variations in infant touch across periods suggest that infants communicate their affective states through touch. The findings also support the regulatory and exploratory roles of infant touch, especially during periods of maternal unavailability. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Patterns of Natural Language Use: Disclosure, Personality, and Social Integration

When people write about their deepest thoughts and feelings about an emotionally significant event, numerous benefits in many domains (e.g., health, achievement, and well-being) result. As one step in understanding how writing achieves these effects, we have developed a computer program that provides a "fingerprint" of the words people use in writing or in natural settings. Analyses of text samples indicate that particular patterns of word use predict health and also reflect personality styles. We have also discovered that language use in the laboratory writing paradigm is associated with changes in social interactions and language use in the real world. The implications for using computer-based text analysis programs in the development of psychological theory are discussed.     

儿童阅读与心理理论间的关系

阅读与心理理论(theory of mind, ToM)在儿童发展过程中都发挥着重要的作用,梳理文献发现两者可能存在双向促进作用。儿童通过与家长或老师的共享阅读,启动联合注意,使用心理状态术语进行对话,进一步根据社会想象力,模拟社会互动,从而促进儿童心理理论发展。另一方面,在阅读过程中,心理理论能够助力儿童从宏观的阅读观的建立、元认知阅读策略的使用、故事情境模型的构建,到微观具体的短语、句子、语篇和多文本的理解等能力的提高,这些证据揭示了心理理论可以从多方面促进儿童阅读能力的发展。进一步的神经生理证据发现,阅读和心理理论这两个过程的神经活动是有一定重叠的。由此推测,两者可能具备潜在的双向促进关系。未来需要更深入和长期的纵向追踪研究为两者的关系提供丰富的实证证据。此外,还应进行更多中国的低龄儿童的研究。随着科技的发展和线上课程的盛行,也应更多关注多媒体内容阅读对儿童心理理论的影响。     

PROMOTING RECIPROCAL INTERACTIONS VIA PEER INCIDENTAL TEACHING

This study evaluated peer incidental teaching as a strategy for increasing reciprocal peer interactions by children with autism. Three typical preschoolers were trained as peer tutors for 3 young children with autism. During a classroom free-play session, peer tutors used incidental teaching to obtain verbal labels of preferred toys by children with autism. A multiple baseline across the 3 target children showed replicated positive effects of the intervention. Adult supervision and assistance were then faded systematically, with resulting maintenance of increased reciprocal interactions. Multiple measures of the extent and limits of generalization suggested that 1 child increased interactions in free-play periods throughout the day, but none of the children showed increases at lunch. Teacher and peer ratings supported the social validity of positive findings.     

Effects of cocaine and alcohol, alone and in combination, on human learning and performance.

The acute effects of cocaine hydrochloride (4 to 96 mg/70 kg) and alcohol (0 to 1.0 g/kg), administered alone and in combination, were assessed in two experiments with human volunteers responding under a multiple schedule of repeated acquisition and performance of response chains. Subjects were intermittent users of cocaine and regular drinkers who were not cocaine or alcohol dependent. Alcohol was mixed with orange juice and ingested in six drinks within 30 min; cocaine was administered intranasally 45 min after completion of drinking. In each component of the multiple schedule, subjects completed response sequences using three keys of a numeric keypad. In the acquisition component, a new sequence was learned each session. In the performance component, the response sequence always remained the same. Results were consistent in both experiments, despite variations in the order in which the drugs were tested alone and in combination. Alcohol administered alone increased overall percentage of errors and decreased rates of responding in the acquisition component, whereas responding in the performance component generally was unaffected. Cocaine administered alone decreased rates of responding but did not affect accuracy of responding in the acquisition component, and enhanced accuracy of responding without affecting rates of responding in the performance component. The combined doses of cocaine and alcohol attenuated the effects observed with alcohol and cocaine alone. These results suggest that, under the conditions investigated in this study, (a) alcohol produces greater behavioral disruption than cocaine or cocaine-alcohol combinations, (b) cocaine and alcohol each attenuate effects of the other, and (c) such attenuation is most pronounced for cocaine attenuating the disruptive effects of alcohol.     

Maternal perception of infant intentionality at 4 and 8 months

This study examines the degree to which mothers perceive infants as intentional and the relations among perception of intentionality, background variables, maternal emotional adjustment, and maternal interactive style. Forty mother-infant dyads were assessed when the infants were 4 months old, and 34 were retested at 8 months. Parent perception of infant intentionality (PPII) was measured via a rating of videotaped segments of infant behavior and an interview. Intentionality scores showed acceptable internal consistency and were positively intercorrelated at each age and across age. The two measures were aggregated to form an index of PPII at each age. Higher educational attainment was associated with lower PPII scores, experience with infants was associated with higher PPII scores, and academic knowledge about child development was not related to PPII. Mothers with more symptoms of anxiety had lower PPII scores, but high maternal separation anxiety was associated with higher PPII scores. Maternal symptoms of depression had a complex relation to PPII scores. Mothers rated as sensitive in mother-infant interactions had higher PPII scores. These variables accounted for 34% of the variance in PPII at 4 months and 49% at 8 months. There were also group differences: Mothers of 8-month-olds had higher PPII scores than mothers of 4-month-olds, mothers of girls had higher PPII scores than mothers of boys, and mothers attributed more intentionality in episodes with girls than in episodes with boys. The results are discussed in relation to mechanisms whereby PPII interacts with aspects of the parent and infant.     

The Experience of Caregiving Among Mothers of Adults Suffering from Psychotic Disorders: Factors Associated with Their Psychological Distress

To identify correlates of psychological distress among multiple indicators, 99 women with adult children suffering from a psychotic disorder were interviewed. The women, who were recruited through hospitals and self-help groups, represented different socioeconomic levels. A face-to-face standardized interview was conducted, mainly in the participants' homes. Multiple hierarchical regression analysis showed that dimensions of burden and social support were strongly associated with distress reported by the participants. The negative interactions that participants had with their main confidant or spouse constituted a more powerful correlate than their perception of the quality of this relationship. Furthermore, a perception of their own health as poorer is a strong correlate of their distress. Since no control group was studied simultaneously, these results suggest, but do not prove, the presence of differences between mothers of adults with psychotic disorders and other mothers.