An object's categorizability impacts whether infants encode surface features into their object representations
AbstractInfants encode the surface features of simple, unfamiliar objects (e.g., red triangle) and the categorical identities of familiar, categorizable objects (e.g., car) into their representations of these objects. We asked whether 16 –18-month-olds ignore non-diagnostic surface features (e.g., color) in favor of encoding an object's categorical identity (e.g., car) when objects are from familiar categories. In Experiment 1 (n = 18), we hid a categorizable object inside an opaque box. In No Switch trials, infants retrieved the object that was hidden. In Switch trials, infants retrieved a different object: an object ...
Source: Infancy - July 3, 2023 Category: Child Development Authors: Melissa M. Kibbe,
Aimee E. Stahl Tags: RESEARCH ARTICLE Source Type: research
Assessing the language of 2 year‐olds: From theory to practice
AbstractEarly screening for language problems is a priority given the importance of language for success in school and interpersonal relationships. The paucity of reliable behavioral instruments for this age group prompted the development of a new touchscreen language screener for 2-year-olds that relies on language comprehension. Developmental literature guided selection of age-appropriate markers of language disorder risk that are culturally and dialectally neutral and could be reliably assessed. Items extend beyond products of linguistic knowledge (vocabulary and syntax) and tap theprocess by which children learn langua...
Source: Infancy - June 24, 2023 Category: Child Development Authors: Emily Jackson,
Dani Levine,
Jill Villiers,
Aquiles Iglesias,
Kathy Hirsh ‐Pasek,
Roberta Michnick Golinkoff Tags: RESEARCH ARTICLE Source Type: research
Persistent symptoms of maternal post ‐traumatic stress following childbirth across the first months postpartum: Associations with perturbations in maternal behavior and infant avoidance of social gaze toward mother
AbstractRecent literature identifies childbirth as a potentially traumatic event, following which mothers may develop symptoms of Post-Traumatic-Stress-Following-Childbirth (PTS-FC). The current study examines whether stable symptoms of PTS-FC during the early postpartum period may impose risk for perturbations in maternal behavior and infant social-engagement with mother, controlling for comorbid postpartum internalizing symptoms. Mother-infant dyads (N = 192) were recruited from the general population, during the third trimester of pregnancy. 49.5% of the mothers were primipara, and 48.4% of the infants were girls. Mat...
Source: Infancy - June 18, 2023 Category: Child Development Authors: Sofie Rousseau,
Tamar Feldman,
Inbal Shlomi Polachek,
Tahl I. Frenkel Tags: RESEARCH ARTICLE Source Type: research
Issue Information
No abstract is available for this article. (Source: Infancy)
Source: Infancy - June 13, 2023 Category: Child Development Tags: ISSUE INFORMATION Source Type: research
Early psychosocial risk factors and postnatal parental reflective functioning
AbstractPsychosocial factors have been found to relate to parental reflective functioning (PRF), a parent's ability to mentalize about themselves and their child. Relations between maternal psychosocial risk factors and PRF were investigated in a community sample. A sample of mothers (n = 146) was assessed for risk factors when infants were 6 months, infant temperament was assessed using an observational measure, and PRF was assessed with the Parent Development Interview-Revised (PDI). PRF was measured again with the Parental Reflective Functioning Questionnaire (PRFQ) when chi ldren were 4 years (n = 105) and 5 yea...
Source: Infancy - May 28, 2023 Category: Child Development Authors: Philippa Arkle,
Fionnuala Larkin,
Ying Wang,
Yujin Lee,
Amy Fernandez,
Lydia Y. Li,
Elizabeth Meins Tags: RESEARCH ARTICLE Source Type: research
Diversity and representation in infant research: Barriers and bridges toward a globalized science of infant development
AbstractPsychological researchers have become increasingly concerned with generalized accounts of human behavior based on narrow participant representation. This concern is particularly germane to infant research as findings from infant studies are often invoked to theorize broadly about the origins of human behavior. In this article, we examined participant diversity and representation in research published on infant development in four journals over the past decade. Sociodemographic data were coded for all articles reporting infant data published inChild Development, Developmental Science, Developmental Psychology, andIn...
Source: Infancy - May 23, 2023 Category: Child Development Authors: Leher Singh,
Alejandrina Cristia,
Lana B. Karasik,
Sarah J. Rajendra,
Lisa M. Oakes Tags: REVIEW ARTICLE Source Type: research
Social motivation predicts gaze following between 6 and 14 months
AbstractInfants vary in their ability to follow others ’ gazes, but it is unclear how these individual differences emerge. We tested whether social motivation levels in early infancy predict later gaze following skills. We longitudinally tracked infants’ (N = 82) gazes and pupil dilation while they observed videos of a woman looking into the camera simulating eye contact (i.e., mutual gaze) and then gazing toward one of two objects, at 2, 4, 6, 8, and 14 months of age. To improve measurement validity, we used confirmatory factor analysis to combine multiple observed measures to index the underlying constructs of soc...
Source: Infancy - May 18, 2023 Category: Child Development Authors: Guangyu Zeng,
Tiffany S. Leung,
Sarah E. Maylott,
Thea A. Saunders,
Daniel S. Messinger,
Maria M. Llabre,
Elizabeth A. Simpson Tags: RESEARCH ARTICLE Source Type: research
Effects of face masks on language comprehension in bilingual children
In this study, we investigated effects of different face coverings (surgical masks and transparent face shields) on language comprehension in bilingual children. Three-year-old English-Mandarin bilingual children (N = 28) heard familiar words in both English and Mandarin spoken through transparent face shields, surgical masks, and without masks. When tested in English, children recognized words presented without a mask and through a surgical mask, but did not recognize words presented with transparent face s hields, replicating past findings with monolingual children. In contrast, when tested in Mandarin, children recogn...
Source: Infancy - April 26, 2023 Category: Child Development Authors: Leher Singh,
Paul C. Quinn Tags: RESEARCH ARTICLE Source Type: research
Twelve months old infants' evaluation of observed comforting behavior using a choice paradigm: The role of animacy cues and self ‐distress
AbstractComforting is a prosocial behavior that children start to engage in around their second year of life. There is much less known about their ability to evaluate comforting behavior of others. The current study examined whether 12 months old infants, after having watched animated abstract characters comfort or ignore a third party in distress, would show a preference for the comforting character. Using a manual choice paradigm, we found that infants were more likely to choose the comforting character than the ignoring chara cter (Experiment 1). When the characters however lacked human surface features (eyes) infants...
Source: Infancy - April 21, 2023 Category: Child Development Authors: Szilvia Biro Tags: RESEARCH ARTICLE Source Type: research
Issue Information
No abstract is available for this article. (Source: Infancy)
Source: Infancy - April 8, 2023 Category: Child Development Tags: ISSUE INFORMATION Source Type: research
Infant externalizing behavior and parent depressive symptoms: Prospective predictors of parental pandemic related distress
This study emphasizes the need to investigate predictors of parents' responses to disaster by conceptualizing the depth of the impact of the pandemic using Bronfenbrenner's Bioecological Systems Model. We evaluate parents of infants as the center of the microsystem and discuss the importance of parents' responses to the pandemic for children's development. Specifically, utilizing a prospective design involving a sample of 105 infant-mother-father triads, we test the predictive effects of mothers' and fathers' mental health and infant externalizing behavior assessed prior to the pandemic when infants were 16-months on later...
Source: Infancy - April 7, 2023 Category: Child Development Authors: Samantha A. Murray,
Lijuan Wang,
E. Mark Cummings,
Julia M. Braungart ‐Rieker Tags: RESEARCH ARTICLE Source Type: research
Understanding developmental cascades and experience: Diversity matters
AbstractThis Presidential Address is aimed at considering how infant development can be understood in terms of developmental cascades. Adopting a developmental cascades approach may be especially useful for understanding development in infancy, when changes occur in multiple domains over relatively short time spans. Thinking about change in terms of developmental cascades highlights the role of the input in development, both in terms of how the input changes with development and in terms of how differences in the input lead to different developmental pathways. I reflect on how a developmental cascade perspective can help u...
Source: Infancy - March 25, 2023 Category: Child Development Authors: Lisa M. Oakes Tags: PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS Source Type: research
The mountain stream of infant development
AbstractDevelopment is complex. It encompasses interacting domains, at multiple levels, across nested time scales. Embracing the complexity of development —while addressing the challenges inherent to studying infants—requires researchers to make tough decisions about what to study, why, how, where, and when. My own view is inspired by a developmental systems approach, and echoed in Esther Thelen's (2005) mountain stream metaphor. Like a river that carves its course, the active infant navigates the social and physical environment and generates rich inputs that propel learning and development. Drawing from my experiences...
Source: Infancy - March 24, 2023 Category: Child Development Authors: Catherine S. Tamis ‐LeMonda Tags: PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS Source Type: research
Neural mechanisms of language development in infancy
AbstractUnderstanding the neural processes underpinning individual differences in early language development is of increasing interest, as it is known to vary in typical development and to be quite heterogeneous in neurodevelopmental conditions. However, few studies to date have tested whether early brain measures are indicative of the developmental trajectory of language, as opposed to language outcomes at specific ages. We combined recordings from two longitudinal studies, including typically developing infants without a family history of autism, and infants with increased likelihood of developing autism (infant-siblings...
Source: Infancy - March 22, 2023 Category: Child Development Authors: Scott Huberty,
Christian O ’Reilly,
Virginia Carter Leno,
Mandy Steiman,
Sara Webb,
Mayada Elsabbagh,
The BASIS Team Tags: RESEARCH ARTICLE Source Type: research
Specificity of phonological representations in U.S. English ‐speaking late talkers and typical talkers
AbstractLate talkers are a heterogeneous group of children who experience delayed language development in the absence of other known causes. Late talkers show delays in expressive phonological development, but less is known about their receptive phonological development. In the current study, U.S. monolingual English-speaking typical talkers (TTs) (n = 23, mean age = 26.27 months, 57% male; 78.3% White) and late talkers (n = 22, mean age = 24.57 months, 59% male, 72.7% White) completed a Looking-While-Listening task to assess their sensitivity to mispronunciations. Results revealed that late talkers and TTs looke...
Source: Infancy - March 21, 2023 Category: Child Development Authors: Philip R. Curtis,
Ryne Estabrook,
Megan Y. Roberts,
Adriana Weisleder Tags: RESEARCH ARTICLE Source Type: research
