This study demonstrates how conclusions differ as a function of the particular eye-tracking measure used and shows that the three measures used here
converge on the conclusion that 14-month-old infants’ processing of emotional expressions is influenced by infants’ exposure to fathers and mothers. “
“This experiment tested how 18-month-old infants’ prior experience with an object affects their imitation. Specifically, we asked whether infants would imitate an adult who used her head to illuminate a light-box if they had earlier discovered that the light could be illuminated with their hands. In the Self-Discovery condition, infants had the opportunity to freely explore the light-box; all infants used their hands to activate the light-box at least once during this period. The experimenter then
entered the room and, while providing explicit pedagogical cues, demonstrated illuminating the light-box LBH589 solubility dmso using her forehead. Selleck RXDX-106 In the Demonstration Only condition, infants just viewed the experimenter’s demonstration. During a subsequent testing phase, infants in the Demonstration Only condition were more likely to use their foreheads to activate the light-box. Conversely, infants in the Self-Discovery condition were more likely to use their hands, suggesting that efficiency can “trump” pedagogy in some observational learning contexts. “
“It is well established that 2-year-olds attribute a novel label to an object’s global shape rather than Dichloromethane dehalogenase local features (i.e., parts). Although recent studies have found that younger infants also attend to global rather than local features when given a label, the test stimuli in these experiments confounded parts and shape by varying both or neither. With infants (16- and 24-month-olds) and adults, this experiment disentangled shape and parts with appropriate test objects. Results showed a
clear development of a strategy incorporating multiple cues. Across three age groups, there was an increase in generalizing labels to objects matching the exemplar’s local and global features (parts, base, and shape), and a decrease to objects matching in only one local feature. We discuss these results in terms of a learned flexibility in using multiple cues to predict lexical categories. “
“The present study examines coviewing of Baby Mozart by 6- to 18-month-old infants and their caregivers under naturalistic conditions. We had two questions. First, extending the method of Barr, Zack, Garcia, and Muentener (Infancy, 13 [2008], 30–56) to a younger population, we asked if age, prior exposure, and caregiver verbal input would predict infant looking to a Baby Mozart video from 6 to 18 months. Second, we asked if caregiver–infant interactional quality, defined as the amount of shared focus and turn taking between infant and caregiver, would be associated with infant looking time.