This study used event-related potentials (ERP) and visual preference technique to assess 6-month olds' ability to recognize their mothers' face. Results of five experiments suggested that infants can recognize their mothers' face, but the neural processes accompanying recognition depend on the difficulty with which mothers can be discriminated…

Used new test to determine whether 24-month olds interpret novel words in accordance with Mutual Exclusivity Bias. Found that when asked to select exemplars of a familiar noun, they avoided objects from previously read story in which novel nouns were used as atypical exemplars of familiar noun. When pronouns and proper names replaced novel nouns,…

Compared spelling of children who speak General American English and those who speak Southern British English. Found that spelling errors of children with spelling ages of 6 to 7.5 reflected characteristics of their dialect, and that at older spelling ages, British children made overgeneralization errors reflecting their dialect. Concluded that…

Examined morphosyntax in persons with Williams Syndrome (WS). Analyzed receptive language of English-speaking WS persons and grammatical gender assignment of French-speaking WS persons. Found within-domain dissociations in grammatical gender assignment across several sentence elements and difficulties in understanding embedded sentences, which…

Examined contribution of temperamental inhibitory control to conscience development. Found longitudinal stability in inhibitory control from toddlerhood to early school age, with inhibitory control increasing with age, and girls outperforming boys. Reaffirmed links between inhibitory control and multiple, diverse measures of children's conscience…

Followed 150 children over four years who were classified according to cluster analysis of teacher ratings into four types of social withdrawal: unsociable, passive-anxious, active-isolate, and sad-depressed. Found that unsociable children had elevated sociometric neglect rates, active-isolates had higher levels of rejection, and sad-depressed had…

Evaluated contributions of mothers' social coaching and responsive style to preschoolers' interpersonal competence with peers. Found that coaching and style were largely independent and were correlated with social competence; both predicted teacher ratings, and style predicted peer acceptance. Found no evidence for mediation effect of coaching,…

Studied role of adolescents' awareness in relationship between marital conflict and adolescent distress. Found marital conflict was related to parental hostility toward adolescents and adolescents' awareness of conflict; parental hostility and adolescents' awareness of marital conflict were related to adolescent-perceived parental hostility. Found…

Studied impact of family background, parental attitudes, peer support, and adolescents' attitudes and behavior on academic achievement of adolescents from immigrant families. Found that first- and second-generation students received higher mathematics and English grades than peers from native families; the strong educational emphasis by students,…

Assessed association between length of maternity leave and quality of mother-infant interaction. Found a direct association between shorter leave and more negative affect and behavior; mothers with more depressive symptoms or who perceived their infant as having a difficult temperament, and with shorter leaves expressed less positive affect,…

Used signal detection methodology to examine how cognitive set affects mothers' response to crying by "difficult" and "easy" infants. Found that increased mothers' sensitivity was associated with the "difficult" infant cognitive set and that mothers with high illusory control were least sensitive in detecting differences between cries. Greater…

Recorded cognitive event-related potentials from maltreated and nonmaltreated children during presentations of happy, angry, or neutral facial expressions. Found that for nonmaltreated children, the average amplitude of P300 was comparable for responses to happy and neutral expressions. Maltreated children displayed larger P300 amplitude to…

Used growth curve analysis to describe the development of 186 preschoolers with vision impairments. Found that mental retardation and developmental delay were associated with lower developmental ages and slower growth rates. Visual function of 20/800 or worse was associated with lower developmental ages and slower growth rates in personal-social…

Examined relationships between early vocabulary composition, early language use, and properties of mothers' child-directed speech at 10 words. Found that, when the effects of the child on the mother at 10 words was controlled, there was a negative correlation between mothers' production of speech illustrating word boundaries and the percentage of…

Three experiments examined effects of language on developing knowledge of distinction between real and apparent properties. Found that when Spanish verbs for "to be" -- "Ser" and "Estar" -- were substituted for "is,""Ser" gave the Spanish-speaking and bilingual speakers a unique advantage in distinguishing real and apparent properties because it…