Infant Development

Applied Developmental Psychology

9.29.04

 

Artie

This study suggests that it is the relationship between the mother-infant  dyad that accounts for development of communication in infants. Is it the stimulation the child recieves from the mother such as visual, auditory the main reason for communication development or is it mostly the interspersonal relationship and its emotional component of (security, positive feedback) or can those two aspects even be separated?

 

Hui-Chin, H., & Fogel, A., (2003). Stability and Transitions in Mother-Infant 
          Face-to-Face Communication During the First 6 Months: A Microhistorical 
          Approach. Developmental Psychology, 39(6), 1061-1082.


In this study the authors attempted to unravel the relational, dynamical, and historical nature of mother-infant
communication during the first 6 months. Thirteen mothers and their infants were videotaped weekly from 4 to 24 weeks during face-to-face interactions. Three distinct patterns of mother-infant communication
were identified: symmetrical, asymmetrical, and unilateral. Guided by a dynamic systems perspective, the authors explored the stability of and transitions between these communication patterns. Findings from event
history analysis showed that (a) there are regularly recurring dyadic communication patterns in early infancy, (b) these recurring patterns show differential stabilities and likelihoods of transitions, (c) dynamic stability in dyadic communication is shaped not only by individual characteristics (e. g. , infant sex and maternal parity) but also by the dyad's communication history, and (d) depending on their recency, communication histories varying in temporal proximity exert differential effects on the self-organization processes of a dyadic system.

 

Rey

 

According to the article, why is the development of empathy and attachment in infants so important in determining whether a child ends up exhibiting antisocial behavior?

 

Ijzendoorn, Marinus H. Van. (1997). Attachment, emergent morality, and aggression:                   

          toward a developmental socioemotional model of antisocial behaviour.             

          International Journal of Behavioral Development, 21, 703-727.

Does attachment play a role in the development of moral reasoning and antisocial behaviour? In this contribution we discuss the role of attachment relationships in the development of early precursors of morality and antisocial behaviour, in particular compliance and aggression in infancy and in childhood. Findings are presented on the role of attachment representations in the development of morality, authoritarianism, and criminal behaviour in adolescence and young adulthood. For heuristic purposes, two socioemotional models of the development of mild and serious types of antisocial behaviour are proposed in which attachment is a prominent feature.

 

Pacsha


Will infants express a difference in reaction to the mothers voice and any other familiar voice?

 

Purhonen. M. Lees, R. Valkonen-Korhonen, M. Lehtonen, J. Cerebral processing of mothers 

          voice compared to unfamiliar voice in 4 month old infants. International Journal of 

          Psychophysiology.52 I3, pgs. 257-266.


In order to investigate the neurophysiological mechanisms related to the infant's preference of maternal stimuli over other stimuli, auditory event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded in responses to the mother's voice and to a voice of an unfamiliar female in 15 infants at the age of 4 months. Stimuli were presented in intermittent and alternating trains of four identical stimuli (mother's voice or an unfamiliar voice). A significant amplitude difference was observed in the responses. This was seen as a negative "shift" in the responses to mother's voice after approximately 350 ms. The finding suggests that the infants allocate more attention to process their own mothers' voices compared to unfamiliar voices and it may work in favor of establishing and strengthening an emotional tie between the infant and its mother. (

PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2004 APA, all rights reserved)(journal abstract)
 

 

Mitzi

 


Can children's behavioral patterns change over age? Or does the ability to solve problems develop at a certain age?


Clifton, R.K., Collard, R.K., & McCarty, M.E., (1999). Problem solving in infancy: the emergence 

          of an action plan. Developmental Psychology, 35 (4). 1091-1101.


Young children's strategies were evaluated as they grasped and used objects. Spoons containing food and toys mounted on handles were presented to 9-, 14-, and 19-month-old children with the handle alternately oriented to the left and right. The alternating orientations revealed strategies that the children used for grasping items. Younger children usually reached with their preferred hand, disregarding the item's orientation. In the case of the spoon, this strategy produced awkward grasps that had to be corrected later. Older children anticipated the problem, alternated the hand used, and achieved an efficient radial grip (i. e. , handle grasped with base of thumb toward food or toy end) for both orientations. A model of the development of action-selection strategies is proposed to illustrate planning in children younger than 2 years.

 

Lauren