Studied 125 mothers and firstborn sons over 11-month period to examine relations between mothers' representations of their relationships with their children, adult representations of attachment, and observed mothering. Findings revealed significant relationship between mothers' representations of relationships with their children and adult…

Evaluated role of visual input during reaching and grasping. Found that both infants and adults completed a reach and grasp to a darkened object but used vision when object remained visible. Infants contacted the object more often when it remained visible, although with longer durations and more movement units. Adults reached faster and more…

Examined associations between 7- to 9-year-old boys' experiences with their mothers, beliefs about peers, and peer adjustment over two years. Found that boys' negative behavior with mothers was associated with more negative beliefs about peers and being more aggressive and less well-liked. Beliefs about peers predicted social acceptance and…

Studied feeding-related arousal effects on a visual recognition paired-comparison task at newborn, 1, and 4 months of age. Found that newborns and 1-month olds shifted from a familiarity preference before feeding to a novelty preference after feeding. Control-group testing confirmed that shift was not due to increased stimulus exposure. By 4…

Three longitudinal studies examined means-ends behavior of 6- to 8-month olds. Found that intentional means-end behavior increased between 6 and 7 months, with 7-month olds' performance influenced by the presence of a toy on the cloth. Performance was the same when cloth was attached to or separate from the toy. By 8 months, infants adjusted…

A longitudinal study examined the role of a mapping system in 2-year olds' learning of color and size words. Results indicated that the children acquired color maps in a characteristic order and showed a different acquisition pattern for size words. Results suggest that learning word associations may promote color-word acquisition; learning color…

Examined the genetic and environmental contributions to the predictive association between parenting and adolescent adjustment in identical and fraternal twins, and full, half, and genetically unrelated siblings in nondivorced and stepfamilies. Found that cross-lagged associations between parental conflict-negativity and adolescent antisocial…

Prospective longitudinal study examined continuity in infants' experience to attachment representations at 18 years. Found that adults with dismissing representations had received less sensitive maternal care than adults with secure or preoccupied representations. Adverse life events through age 12, especially parental divorce, reduced likelihood…

Compared Duchenne and non-Duchenne smiles of 1- to 6-month olds during weekly videotapes of mother/infant interaction for clues regarding emotional significance. Correlated levels of Duchenne and non-Duchenne smiling within sessions; found that they had similar developmental trajectories. Duchenne smiles were typically preceded by non-Duchenne…

Compared the mismatch-negativity (MMN) component of auditory event-related brain potentials to explore the relationship between phonological short-term memory and auditory-sensory processing in 7- to 9-year olds scoring the highest and lowest on a pseudoword repetition test. Found that high and low repeaters differed in MMN amplitude to speech…

Investigated implications of body-fat differences for dating and sexual activity and implications of heterosexual activity for dieting and weight concerns in adolescent girls. Found that among white girls, and blacks with college-educated mothers, more body fat was associated with lower dating probability, even among non-obese girls. Body fat was…

Examined the balance between connectedness to, and independence from, mother, father, and best friend in 9- to 14-year olds. Found that children reporting a preoccupied or avoidant stance toward their mother displayed increased social impairment in the peer group over time. Stances toward mother, father, and best friend were related. Children…

Examined whether indexes of verbal imprecision could be quantified and used to predict changes in fifth graders' problem-solving performance. Found that four types of verbal imprecision predicted improved performance: false starts and self-repairs, deletions, long pauses, and metacognitive comments. Results suggested that adopting a new approach…

Examined age differences in objectified body consciousness (OBC) based on cultural, developmental, and familial contexts of women's body experience in undergraduate women and their middle-aged mothers. Found that mothers scored lower on surveillance and body shame. Found no differences in appearance-control beliefs, body-esteem, or restricted…

Two experiments used error-detection to determine the reason for 3-year olds' perseverative errors on the postswitch phase of the Dimensional Change Card Sort. Results implied that perseveration cannot be attributed to difficulty inhibiting prepotent motor responses, but that changes in rule use between 3 and 5 years are more likely to increase…