Facial emotion recognition during pregnancy: Examining the effects of facial age and affect
In this study, 51 pregnant women at 17–36 weeks gestation watched neutral infant and adult faces gradually morph into either happy or sad expressions. We measured the speed and accuracy with which participants were able to recognize facial affect (happy vs. sad) across facial ages (infant vs. adult). Participants were faster and more accurate at recognizing happy versus sad faces and adult versus infant faces. We discuss how prior exposure to a certain face type may explain faster recognition. We also consider these results in the context of evidence indicating positive affect is recognized more quickly, but associated w...
Source: Infant Behavior and Development - January 17, 2019 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
An examination of the impact of maternal fetal attachment, postpartum depressive symptoms and parenting stress on maternal sensitivity
Publication date: February 2019Source: Infant Behavior and Development, Volume 54Author(s): Ana Luisa B.T. B.T. Dau, Laura S. Callinan, Megan V. SmithAbstractThe current study aimed to examine the impact of maternal depression, maternal fetal attachment (MFA) and parenting stress on maternal sensitivity, intrusiveness and positive regard for the child with a sample of 36 low-income, mothers-infant dyads that were followed from pregnancy through the first year postpartum. Maternal depression and parenting stress were expected to have a negative impact on maternal sensitivity, intrusiveness and positive regard, while high MF...
Source: Infant Behavior and Development - January 17, 2019 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
A computational perspective on social attachment
Publication date: February 2019Source: Infant Behavior and Development, Volume 54Author(s): Justin Chumbley, Annekatrin SteinhoffAbstractHumans depend on social relationships for survival and wellbeing throughout life. Yet, individuals differ markedly in their ability to form and maintain healthy social relationships. Here we use a simple mathematical model to formalize the contention that a person’s attachment style is determined by what they learn from relationships early in life. For the sake of argument, we therefore discount individual differences in the innate personality or attachment style of a child, assuming in...
Source: Infant Behavior and Development - January 13, 2019 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
The parent/caregiver involvement scale – Short form is a valid measure of parenting quality in high-risk families
This study investigates the functioning of the Parent-Caregiver Involvement Scale –Short Form (P/CIS-SF) in a high-risk sample. The P/CIS-SF measures several behaviors pertaining to both “amount” and “quality,” as well overall “impressions” of parenting. Participants were 170 six-month-olds and their mothers who were at risk for child abuse, impoverished, single, young, and had multiple children. Mother-infant interaction was videotaped in the home during semi-structured play. These high-risk parents scored in the midrange on most P/CIS-SF items, indicating that mothers engaged with their infants for approxim...
Source: Infant Behavior and Development - January 9, 2019 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
Twelve-month-old infants’ attention to the eyes of a talking face is associated with communication and social skills
Publication date: February 2019Source: Infant Behavior and Development, Volume 54Author(s): Ferran Pons, Laura Bosch, David J. LewkowiczAbstractWe investigated whether attention to a talker’s eyes in 12 month-old infants is related to their communication and social abilities. We measured infant attention to a talker’s eyes and mouth with a Tobii eye-tracker and examined the correlation between attention to the talker’s eyes and scores on the Adaptive Behavior Questionnaire from the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development (BSID-III). Results indicated a positive relationship between eye gaze and scores on the ...
Source: Infant Behavior and Development - January 9, 2019 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
Empathic distress and concern predict aggression in toddlerhood: The moderating role of sex
This study sheds new light on the intricate relationship between empathy, aggression, and sex from a developmental perspective. (Source: Infant Behavior and Development)
Source: Infant Behavior and Development - January 8, 2019 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
Overt congruent facial reaction to dynamic emotional expressions in 9–10-month-old infants
Publication date: February 2019Source: Infant Behavior and Development, Volume 54Author(s): Kazuhide Hashiya, Xianwei Meng, Yusuke Uto, Kana TajiriAbstractThe current study aimed to extend the understanding of the early development of spontaneous facial reactions toward observed facial expressions. Forty-six 9- to 10-month-old infants observed video clips of dynamic human facial expressions that were artificially created with morphing technology. The infants’ facial responses were recorded, and the movements of the facial action unit 12 (e.g., lip-corner raising, associated with happiness) and facial action unit 4 (e.g.,...
Source: Infant Behavior and Development - December 16, 2018 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
Infant motor skill predicts later expressive language and autism spectrum disorder diagnosis
We examined motor skills in 6-month-olds (n = 140) at high and low familial risk for ASD using the Peabody Developmental Motor Scales (Grasping, Visual-Motor Integration, and Stationary subscales). In Study 1, motor skill at 6 months predicted ASD status at 24–36 months; ASD was associated with poorer infant motor skills. In Study 2, motor skill at 6 months predicted expressive language at 30 and 36 months. Findings provide evidence that vulnerability in motor function early in development is present in ASD. Findings highlight the importance of developmental monitoring in high-risk infants and possible cascading effe...
Source: Infant Behavior and Development - December 15, 2018 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
Mothers’ feelings about infants’ negative emotions and mother-infant interactions among the Gamo of Southern Ethiopia
In this study, the link between Gamo mothers’ expressions of stress about their infants’ negative emotional displays (N = 29 mothers and infants) and mother-infant interactions was investigated. Mothers who expressed stress in response to their infants’ negative emotions demonstrated fewer interactions overall with their infants compared to mothers who did not express stress. Regression analyses showed that mothers who did not express stress had infants that fussed and cried more in their presence than infants of mothers who did not express stress, albeit insignificant. These results are discussed in the context ...
Source: Infant Behavior and Development - December 4, 2018 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
Reliability and generalizability of an acted-out false belief task in 3-year-olds
Publication date: February 2019Source: Infant Behavior and Development, Volume 54Author(s): Sebastian Dörrenberg, Lisa Wenzel, Marina Proft, Hannes Rakoczy, Ulf LiszkowskiAbstractThe current study tested the reliability and generalizability of a narrative act-out false belief task held to reveal Theory of Mind (ToM) competence at 3 years of age, before children pass verbal standard false belief tasks (the “Duplo task”; Rubio-Fernández & Geurts, 2013, Psychological Science). We conducted the task across two labs with methodologically improved matched control conditions. Further, we administered an analogue intensional...
Source: Infant Behavior and Development - December 2, 2018 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
Using automatic face analysis to score infant behaviour from video collected online
Publication date: February 2019Source: Infant Behavior and Development, Volume 54Author(s): Brea Chouinard, Kimberly Scott, Rhodri CusackAbstractOnline testing of infants by recording video with a webcam has the potential to improve the replicability of developmental studies by facilitating larger sample sizes and by allowing methods (including recruitment) to be specified in code. However, the recorded video still needs to be manually scored. This labour-intensive process puts downward pressure on sample sizes and requires subjective judgements that may not be reproducible in a different laboratory. Here we present the fi...
Source: Infant Behavior and Development - December 1, 2018 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
Should I test more babies? Solutions for transparent data peeking
Publication date: Available online 22 November 2018Source: Infant Behavior and DevelopmentAuthor(s): Esther Schott, Mijke Rhemtulla, Krista Byers-HeinleinAbstractResearch with infants is often slow and time-consuming, so infant researchers face great pressure to use the available participants in an efficient way. One strategy that researchers sometimes use to optimize efficiency is data peeking (or “optional stopping”), that is, doing a preliminary analysis (whether a formal significance test or informal eyeballing) of collected data. Data peeking helps researchers decide whether to abandon or tweak a study, decide tha...
Source: Infant Behavior and Development - November 23, 2018 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
Editorial Board
Publication date: November 2018Source: Infant Behavior and Development, Volume 53Author(s): (Source: Infant Behavior and Development)
Source: Infant Behavior and Development - November 17, 2018 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
Associations of paternal postpartum depressive symptoms and infant development in a Chinese longitudinal study
This study examined paternal postpartum depression and its adverse impact on infants, and the possible mediating role of father-infant attachment in the link between fathers’ depressive symptoms and infants’ outcomes. Pregnant women and their partners were recruited from the antenatal clinics of two public hospitals in Hong Kong. Information about paternal and maternal depression, paternal-infant attachment, and infant development were collected at antenatal period, 6 weeks and 6 months postpartum. Linear regression was employed to examine risk factors for paternal depression symptoms, and mediation analysis was conduc...
Source: Infant Behavior and Development - November 8, 2018 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
The relationship between temperament style and understanding of human goal-directed action in infants
Publication date: November 2018Source: Infant Behavior and Development, Volume 53Author(s): Jennifer LaBounty, Margaret Oliver, Kaitlyn True, Hannah Cooper, Sheena Friesen, Gabrielle CastroAbstractThe purpose of this research was to investigate the relationship between temperament style and understanding of goal-directed action in 10–11-month-old infants. Infant social understanding was assessed using a looking-time measure similar to Woodward (1998). This method yielded two measures of infant social understanding; ‘decrement of attention’ (a measure of infant attention during habituation) and ‘novelty preference...
Source: Infant Behavior and Development - November 1, 2018 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
