Neonates born without complications to healthy mothers at 14,000 feet or at 490 feet above sea level were evaluated at 24-36- and 48-60-hours-of-life. In comparison with low-altitude infants, high-altitude infants were significantly lighter, shorter, had a smaller arm circumference, and presented more signs of behavioral immaturity in interactive…

The behavioral development of rural Guatemalan infants was assessed shortly after birth on a Neonatal Assessment Scale (NAS) and at 6-, 15-, and 24-months-of-age on a Composite Infant Scale (CIS). Summary variables based on NAS performance poorly predicted later assessed performance even as recently as six months after birth. The CIS modestly…

Results indicate that (1) social support is the best predictor of secure attachment and is most important for mothers with irritable babies, (2) maternal unresponsiveness is associated with resistance during reunion episodes and appears to be a mechanism through which anxious attachment develops, and (3) social support may mitigate the effects of…

Examines young children's awareness that an actor's intention to transfer possession or control is a necessary precondition for correct use of the verb "give". Ninety-six four- through six-year-olds were presented with anecdotes in which the actor's behavior was held constant but his subjective goal was varied. (Author/RH)

In three experiments, three- and four-and-a-half-year-old preschool children were tested on free and cued recall tasks in which semantic and contextual cues were manipulated. When context and target items were integrated experimentally at presentation, unrelated context cues improved recall. A developmental increase in the effectiveness of…

Children exhibiting a referential orientation seem more likely to acquire new object names than nonreferentially oriented children. Also, children's selection of words may be influenced by the phonological structure of the words. (Author/RH)

Assesses the effectiveness of different child-generated classification schemes on preschool children's memory performance. Children who organized pictures according to taxonomic categories (e.g., animals, vehicles) demonstrated significantly greater recall than children classified as nontaxonomic. (Author/MP)

Two experiments were conducted to examine differences in word-recognition processes between third-grade and college students. Results suggested that children make more predominant use of phonological recoding to obtain lexical access than do adults. (Author/MP)

Two experiments were carried out in which groups of children (mean age = 68 months) were matched on number, length, mass, and liquid conservation scores and then trained on a distance-layout task developed by Inhelder et al (1974). (Author/MP)

Developmental color perception of 278 four- and eight-year-old Black and White children in three societies was examined in relation to the theories that proximity to the equator and that fundus pigmentation (as measured by skin color) reduce shortwave (blue-green) in comparison to long-wave perception. (Author/MP)

To examine the hypothesis that children's difficulties on traditional perspective-taking tasks are in part due to intellectual realism (inappropriately including what is known to exist in a representation of what is seen), 60 three-, four-, and five-year-old children were asked to select representations of various arrangements of blocks.…

Children approximately three to seven years old were presented with pairs of cartoons and asked to choose the funnier of each pair. Cartoons differed in terms of which of two persons was accidentally victimized by his or her own action or action of the other person (e.g., having paint spilled from a ladder onto one's head). (Author/MP)

Aims of study were (1) test for independence in infant's attachment to parent, (2) test concept of security by viewing infants judged secure versus insecure with mother in situation designed to arouse apprehension, (3) examine effects of infant-parent relationships upon positive responsiveness to new persons, and (4) identify characteristics of…

Investigated effects of changes in temporal organization of material play participation upon variety of infant and maternal social interactive variables. Results confirmed hypothesis that both three- and five-month-old infants recognize temporal changes and respond differentially to natural, slower, and faster temporal styles. (Author/MP)

Reports a comparison of depressed and nondepressed subjects undertaken to identify aspects of the early parent child relationship that may be associated with depressive illness in adult life. Results show maternal rejection was found more closely associated with depression in female children; the effect was essentially the same among Black and…