Carrying Position Influences Infant Behavior

Three-month-old infants were carried by their mothers in a soft infant carrier designed for infants being faced inward or faced outward. A within subjects comparison of these two positions revealed that when the infants were carried facing-in, they spent significantly more time sleeping and were rarely actively awake and looking at the environment. In contrast, the infants were more active in the facing-out position including more time moving their arms, head turning, kicking and looking at their environment

Depressed mothers' interactions with their one-year-old infants

During toy-play interactions, one-year old infants of depressed mothers engaged in less object examination, daughters of depressed mothers showed less positive and more negative affect. Depressed mothers were more intrusive with sons

Touch Among Children at Nursery School

Naturalistic observations of touching behaviors were conducted among 33 preschool children, ranging from 3 to 64 months of age. Touch was coded for direction (received/initiated), type, body area touched, responses to touch, and purpose. Infants received significantly more touch than older children. Preschool children engaged in touching behaviors similar to those observed among adults. Touch involved "vulnerable body parts" more often among toddlers than among preschoolers. 'Negative' responses to being touched occurred more often among toddlers than among preschoolers, and task-related touch occurred less often in the preschool than in the toddler and infant classes

REINFORCEMENT OF VOCALIZATIONS THROUGH CONTINGENT VOCAL IMITATION

Maternal vocal imitation of infant vocalizations is highly prevalent during face-to-face interactions of infants and their caregivers. Although maternal vocal imitation has been associated with later verbal development, its potentially reinforcing effect on infant vocalizations has not been explored experimentally. This study examined the reinforcing effect of maternal vocal imitation of infant vocalizations using a reversal probe BAB design. Eleven 3- to 8-month-old infants at high risk for developmental delays experienced contingent maternal vocal imitation during reinforcement conditions. Differential reinforcement of other behavior served as the control condition. The behavior of 10 infants showed evidence of a reinforcement effect. Results indicated that vocal imitations can serve to reinforce early infant vocalizations

Food Texture Preferences in Infants Versus Toddlers

Previous research has demonstrated that newborns are capable of preferentially responding to distinct tastes and food-related odors. However, whether infants are also capable of responding to distinct food textures has not been previously investigated. The present research determined whether food texture preferences differ during two developmental periods, infancy and toddlerhood, and whether experience with textures influenced infants' food preferences. In the present research, infants displayed more negative expressions, negative head movements and negative body movements when presented with more complex textures. In contrast, toddlers showed more positive head and body movements and more eagerness for complex textures. The data also suggest that experience with difficult-to-chew textures can facilitate a preference for a more complex texture. The present research adds to our understanding of early perceptual and discriminatory abilities and their development between infancy and early toddlerhood. In addition, the data highlight the need for food texture variation (within the range of the infants' feeding skills) to satisfy the infants' and toddlers' novelty preferences