A total of 14 psychotic children with a mean age of nine years, two months, and 14 normal children having a mean age of six years, four months, were compared in terms of structural level and functional abilities on classification and seriation tasks. (Author/RH)

Comparisons of age and test score correlations, comparisons of cross-sequential means, and trends of means for diagnostic subgroups and normal controls suggest developmental delay for all measured skills at all ages for autistic and schizophrenic children. Findings also suggest a trend for steady prepubertal cognitive skill development, followed…

Results of three experiments suggest that groups of schizophrenic, younger normal, and older normal children used a serial information-processing strategy while performing on a partial report version of a span of apprehension task. Impairment of schizophrenic children on the partial report versions seemed to reflect inefficiencies in the…

To clarify the role of the cerebral cortex in neonatal behavior, the Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale--Kansas Revision was administered to a hydranencephalic infant. Extremely deviant responses on portions of the exam were found, including responses to items measuring response decrement and orientation. (Author/RH)

Two independent and geographically disparate samples showed that physically abused three- to six-year-old children have cranial facial proportions that are atypically older than their nonabused agemates. Two independent photographic samples corroborated this finding: one involved photos of two- to seven-year-olds and the other investigated 12- to…

The effect of child maltreatment on children's social-cognitive development was examined by investigating abused, neglected, and nonmaltreated children's judgments regarding the permissibility of social-conventional and moral transgressions pertaining to physical harm, psychological distress, and the unfair distribution of resources. (Author/RH)

A transcript-narrative analysis technique was used to identify interpersonal negotiation strategies of two nine-year-old boys selected from a pool of children with socioemotional and interpersonal difficulties. Strategies were classified according to four developmental levels: impulsive/physical, unilateral/coercive, reciprocal/influential, and…

Three groups of macaque mother/infant dyads were observed while each lived in ecological settings that differed in level of foraging demand and, hence, the amount of work each mother was required to perform to obtain her daily rations. Findings suggest that in monkeys, as in humans, when mothers are psychologically unavailable to their infants,…

Temperament and attachment, as defined by Bowlby and his followers, are fundamentally different constructs, and research guided by the attachment perspective cannot meaningfully be assimilated to the temperament construct. Qualitative aspects of relationships simply cannot be reduced to individual behavioral dimensions. (RH)

Quantifies behavioral periodicities or cycles during face-to-face interaction between three- and five-year-old term and preterm infants and their mothers. Compares the temporal organization of social interaction between term and preterm infants. Spectral and cross-spectral techniques showed the existence of periodicities. Differences were found…

Addresses the utility of a noninvasive measure of cardiac vagal tone in predicting developmental outcome among infants at risk for cognitive disabilities. Results suggest that measurement of cardiac vagal tone may provide an important means for assessing risk in birth-stressed populations. (Author/RH)

Activity of 50 children whose motility had been monitored by an electronic activity monitor when they were neonates was again monitored by an ambulatory microcomputer when they were four to eight years old. Results are consistent with evidence from several longitudinal studies suggesting that individual activity characteristics tend to persist…

Results of two experiments indicate that dimensions of the social situation in which social behaviors are modeled influence eight-month-old children's tendency to imitate and their choice of recipients for their imitation. (Author/RH)

Examined seven-month-old infants' perceptions of happy and fearful facial expressions. Infants could generalize discrimination of expressions across male and female faces if first familiarized with happy faces. Infants tended to look longer at fear faces than at happy faces. Preferential responding was not specific to any individual face.…

A laboratory procedure was developed for assessing imitation in the second year of life. Results demonstrate that 14- and 24-month-olds can imitate a simple action with an unfamiliar object, both immediately and after a 24-hour delay. Implications for research design and theory of infant memory are discussed. (RH)