The mediating role of joint attention in the relationship between motor skills and receptive and expressive language in siblings at risk for autism spectrum disorder
Publication date: November 2019Source: Infant Behavior and Development, Volume 57Author(s): E. Bruyneel, E. Demurie, P. Warreyn, H. RoeyersAbstractLanguage problems are highly prevalent in younger siblings of children with autism spectrum disorder (HR-sibs), yet little is known about early predictors. There is growing evidence that motor and language development are linked and this connection might be mediated by joint attention. Developmental changes in motor abilities change how children interact with objects and people (e.g., by showing), which may influence language development. This association has however not yet bee...
Source: Infant Behavior and Development - September 20, 2019 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
Social touch alters newborn monkey behavior
This study illustrates the unique insight offered by nonhuman primates for exploring early infant social touch, revealing that touch may positively affect emotional and attentional development as early as the newborn period. (Source: Infant Behavior and Development)
Source: Infant Behavior and Development - September 13, 2019 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
Editorial Board
Publication date: August 2019Source: Infant Behavior and Development, Volume 56Author(s): (Source: Infant Behavior and Development)
Source: Infant Behavior and Development - September 12, 2019 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
Publisher's Note
Publication date: August 2019Source: Infant Behavior and Development, Volume 56Author(s): (Source: Infant Behavior and Development)
Source: Infant Behavior and Development - September 12, 2019 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
Training of 7-month-old infants’ manual object exploration skills: Effects of active and observational experience
Publication date: November 2019Source: Infant Behavior and Development, Volume 57Author(s): Claudia Kubicek, Gloria Gehb, Bianca Jovanovic, Gudrun SchwarzerAbstractIn the present study, a fine motor training was developed and evaluated in which infants were trained to manually explore objects in an advanced manner. Fifty 7-month-old infants were randomly assigned to three different training conditions: (1) to an active manual exploration training, in which they learned to explore objects efficiently, (2) to an observational manual exploration training, in which they observed how an adult performed sophisticated actions on ...
Source: Infant Behavior and Development - September 7, 2019 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
Rhythmic structure facilitates learning from auditory input in newborn infants
Publication date: November 2019Source: Infant Behavior and Development, Volume 57Author(s): Emma Suppanen, Minna Huotilainen, Sari YlinenAbstractRhythm and metrical regularities are fundamental properties of music and poetry - and all of those are used in the interaction between infants and their parents. Music and rhythm perception have been shown to support auditory and language skills. Here we compare newborn infants’ learning from a song, a nursery rhyme, and normal speech for the first time in the same study. Infants’ electrophysiological brain responses revealed that the nursery rhyme condition facilitated learni...
Source: Infant Behavior and Development - September 4, 2019 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
What are the benefits of having a village? Effects of allomaternal care on communicative skills in early infancy
This study investigates whether exposure to allomaternal care (AMC—care for infants from individuals other than the mother) improves rates of communicative behaviors during late infancy by providing more opportunities to practice communicating with varied caregivers. Data were collected from 102 typically-developing infants aged 13–18 months and their mothers. AMC variables were collected using a current care questionnaire, structured 14-day diary, and longitudinal interview. Communicative behaviors were assessed through post hoc microcoding of in-lab administrations of the Early Social Communication Scales (ESCS), as ...
Source: Infant Behavior and Development - September 4, 2019 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
Exploring cortical activation and connectivity in infants with and without familial risk for autism during naturalistic social interactions: A preliminary study
Publication date: November 2019Source: Infant Behavior and Development, Volume 57Author(s): A.N. Bhat, N.M. McDonald, J.E. Eilbott, K.A. PelphreyAbstractBehavioral signs of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are typically observable by the second year of life and a reliable diagnosis of ASD is possible by 2 to 3 years of age. Studying infants with familial risk for ASD allows for the investigation of early signs of ASD risk within the first year. Brain abnormalities such as hyper-connectivity within the first year may precede the overt signs of ASD that emerge later in life. In this preliminary study, we use functional near-in...
Source: Infant Behavior and Development - August 24, 2019 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
Infants' performance in spontaneous-response false belief tasks: A review and meta-analysis
Publication date: November 2019Source: Infant Behavior and Development, Volume 57Author(s): Pamela Barone, Guido Corradi, Antoni GomilaAbstractEvidence obtained with new experimental paradigms has renewed the debate on the development of theory of mind in general and false belief ascription in particular. Namely, several studies contend to prove that infants already have the capacity to attribute false beliefs. The aim of the current meta-analysis is to review and summarize the empirical evidence about spontaneous-response false belief tasks in infants younger than 2 years old. Fifty-six false belief conditions using the v...
Source: Infant Behavior and Development - August 22, 2019 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
Using the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model to assess maternal and infant contributions to mother-infant affective exchanges during the Still-Face Paradigm
This study describes maternal and infant contributions to dyadic affective exchanges during the Still-Face Paradigm (SFP) in an understudied mostly low-income sample. One hundred eleven mothers and their 7-month-old infants were videotaped during the SFP to analyze how a social stressor affects mother-infant positive and negative affective exchanges during interaction. The SFP includes 3 episodes: baseline, maternal still-face, and reunion. Maternal and infant positive and negative affect were scored by masked reliable coders. Data were analyzed using the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model to test the hypotheses that each...
Source: Infant Behavior and Development - August 22, 2019 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
Does gender affect Bayley-III scores and test-taking behavior?
Publication date: November 2019Source: Infant Behavior and Development, Volume 57Author(s): Marianne T. Krogh, Mette S. VæverAbstractThe developmental test Bayley-III is widely used in clinical and research settings, but there are no published gender-specific norms. The purpose of the present study was to investigate gender differences in Bayley-III scores in a sample of 55 typically developing children assessed repeatedly at ages 4, 7, 10, 13, 24 and 36 months, and to investigate gender differences in the test-taking behavior of the children as measured with the BRS at 36 months. The results of the study demonstrated gen...
Source: Infant Behavior and Development - August 22, 2019 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
The infant simulator: A novel approach for the measurement of parenting
Publication date: Available online 20 August 2019Source: Infant Behavior and DevelopmentAuthor(s): Helena J.V. Rutherford (Source: Infant Behavior and Development)
Source: Infant Behavior and Development - August 22, 2019 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
Towards a more robust and replicable science of infant development
Publication date: November 2019Source: Infant Behavior and Development, Volume 57Author(s): Michael C. Frank (Source: Infant Behavior and Development)
Source: Infant Behavior and Development - August 19, 2019 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
Relations between dynamics of parent-infant interactions and baseline EEG functional connectivity
We report relations between responsiveness, reciprocity, and emotional tone and functional connectivity in theta, alpha, beta, and gamma in infants ranging from 6 to 11 month of age (N = 51). Results showed frontal-posterior connectivity in theta was inversely related to all three dimensions of parent-infant interactions. Gamma and alpha connectivity were positively associated with responsiveness and emotional tone, respectively. Results are discussed in the context of the experience-dependent nature of brain development, emphasizing how parent-infant interactions might be leveraged to structure early organization of t...
Source: Infant Behavior and Development - August 17, 2019 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
The association between maternal interaction and infant cortisol stress reactivity among preterm and full term infants at 4 months adjusted age
Publication date: November 2019Source: Infant Behavior and Development, Volume 57Author(s): Sarah J. Erickson, Nicole Kubinec, Suzanne Vaccaro, Natalia Moss, Rebecca Rieger, Andrew Rowland, Jean R. LoweAbstractThe purpose of this study was to assess the association between maternal interactive behavior and infant cortisol stress reactivity in response to the Still Face paradigm (SF) in a cohort of four-month old infants (adjusted age) born preterm (<32 weeks gestation, N = 22) compared with infants born full term (>37 weeks gestation, N = 28). Infant cortisol reactivity was calculated as area under the curve (A...
Source: Infant Behavior and Development - August 15, 2019 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
