Cross-cultural research on maternal mind-mindedness- the proclivity to view the child as a mental agent-can enhance our understanding of caregiving determinants and children's social-cognitive variations across cultures. However, cross-cultural studies on mind-mindedness remain limited. To address this gap, we examined mothers' use of appropriate (AMRCs) and non-attuned (NAMRCs) mind-related comments in Italy (N = 88), Germany (N = 64), and the Netherlands (N = 97) with their 12-month-old infants (N = 249; 133 girls and 116 boys). Cluster analysis revealed three maternal profiles: low use of both AMRCs and NAMRCs, high use of both AMRCs and NAMRCs, and high AMRCs with low NAMRCs. Almost half of the German mothers belonged to the first profile, most Italian mothers to the second, and Dutch mothers were equally distributed across the three. These findings highlight, for the first time, cultural influences on maternal mind-mindedness within Western countries and emphasize the need to move beyond a simplistic West-East comparison, recognizing that cultural differences can be observed even within similar contexts, and call for culturally sensitive psychoeducational interventions to enhance caregivers' mentalizing skills.
{"title":"Evidence of Cross-Cultural Differences in Maternal Mind-Mindedness","authors":"Fabiola Silletti, Gabrielle Coppola, Cristina Colonnesi, Maria Licata-Dandel, Tiziana Aureli, Beate Sodian","doi":"10.1111/infa.70021","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/infa.70021","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Cross-cultural research on maternal mind-mindedness- the proclivity to view the child as a mental agent-can enhance our understanding of caregiving determinants and children's social-cognitive variations across cultures. However, cross-cultural studies on mind-mindedness remain limited. To address this gap, we examined mothers' use of appropriate (AMRCs) and non-attuned (NAMRCs) mind-related comments in Italy (<i>N</i> = 88), Germany (<i>N</i> = 64), and the Netherlands (<i>N</i> = 97) with their 12-month-old infants (<i>N</i> = 249; 133 girls and 116 boys). Cluster analysis revealed three maternal profiles: low use of both AMRCs and NAMRCs, high use of both AMRCs and NAMRCs, and high AMRCs with low NAMRCs. Almost half of the German mothers belonged to the first profile, most Italian mothers to the second, and Dutch mothers were equally distributed across the three. These findings highlight, for the first time, cultural influences on maternal mind-mindedness within Western countries and emphasize the need to move beyond a simplistic West-East comparison, recognizing that cultural differences can be observed even within similar contexts, and call for culturally sensitive psychoeducational interventions to enhance caregivers' mentalizing skills.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":47895,"journal":{"name":"Infancy","volume":"30 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143877803","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Janette E. Herbers, Maria Abdul-Masih, Alexandra R. Buccelli, Natalee Torre, Emily M. Pintarelli, J. J. Cutuli
This study investigated motor and language development among infants and toddlers staying in family homeless shelters. We tested contributors to resilience and maladaptation, while also considering characteristics of developmental screening. Participants were 128 children (2-week to 35 months old; M = 8.54 months; 73% Black/African American) and their parents staying in eight urban family shelters. Data spanned time points about 2 months apart, involving an interview, parent-child play task, and a repeated, standardized observational screening measure. On average, this sample showed motor delays relative to age-based norms, and language delays for toddlers but not infants, a finding that may signal challenges in assessing language in young infants. Parent depression symptoms predicted lower gains in language, and parent education predicted higher gains in language. Positive parenting predicted gains in motor scores and a non-significant trend for language. We interpreted results as evidence of complex developmental processes of resilience and risk. Parent functioning is a key predictor of resilience and should be included in developmental screening of very young children who experience adversity. Shelter design, policy, and practices also should reflect consideration of early childhood development and parent empowerment.
{"title":"Developmental Screening and Family Resilience for Infants and Toddlers in Homeless Shelters","authors":"Janette E. Herbers, Maria Abdul-Masih, Alexandra R. Buccelli, Natalee Torre, Emily M. Pintarelli, J. J. Cutuli","doi":"10.1111/infa.70019","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/infa.70019","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>This study investigated motor and language development among infants and toddlers staying in family homeless shelters. We tested contributors to resilience and maladaptation, while also considering characteristics of developmental screening. Participants were 128 children (2-week to 35 months old; <i>M</i> = 8.54 months; 73% Black/African American) and their parents staying in eight urban family shelters. Data spanned time points about 2 months apart, involving an interview, parent-child play task, and a repeated, standardized observational screening measure. On average, this sample showed motor delays relative to age-based norms, and language delays for toddlers but not infants, a finding that may signal challenges in assessing language in young infants. Parent depression symptoms predicted lower gains in language, and parent education predicted higher gains in language. Positive parenting predicted gains in motor scores and a non-significant trend for language. We interpreted results as evidence of complex developmental processes of resilience and risk. Parent functioning is a key predictor of resilience and should be included in developmental screening of very young children who experience adversity. Shelter design, policy, and practices also should reflect consideration of early childhood development and parent empowerment.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":47895,"journal":{"name":"Infancy","volume":"30 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143826679","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Monica Vanoncini, Ezgi Kayhan, Birgit Elsner, Moritz Wunderwald, Sebastian Wallot, Stefanie Hoehl, Natalie Boll-Avetisyan
Caregiver-infant coregulation is an early form of communication. This study investigated whether mother-infant biological coregulation is associated with 9-month-olds’ word segmentation performance, a crucial milestone predicting language development. We hypothesized that coregulation would relate with infants' word segmentation performance. Additionally, we examined whether this relationship is influenced by the caregiving environment (i.e., parental reflective functioning) and the infant's emotional state (i.e., positive affect). Coregulation was investigated via cardiac synchrony in 28 nine-month-old infants (16 females) during a 5-min free-play with their German-speaking mothers. Cardiac synchrony was measured through Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia (RSA), employing Recurrence Quantification Analysis to evaluate dyadic coupling (i.e., Recurrence Rate) and dyadic predictability (i.e., Entropy). Infants' word segmentation was measured with an eye-tracking central-fixation procedure. A stepwise regression revealed that higher dyadic coupling, but not predictability, of the dyads' RSA was associated with infants looking longer toward the screen when listening to novel as compared to familiar test words, indicating advanced word segmentation performance (Cohen's d = 0.25). Moreover, cardiac synchrony correlated positively with maternal sensitivity to their infant's mental states, but not with the infant's positive affect. These results suggest that caregiver-infant biological coregulation may play a foundational role in language acquisition.
{"title":"Individual Differences in Infants' Speech Segmentation Performance: The Role of Mother-Infant Cardiac Synchrony","authors":"Monica Vanoncini, Ezgi Kayhan, Birgit Elsner, Moritz Wunderwald, Sebastian Wallot, Stefanie Hoehl, Natalie Boll-Avetisyan","doi":"10.1111/infa.70020","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/infa.70020","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Caregiver-infant coregulation is an early form of communication. This study investigated whether mother-infant biological coregulation is associated with 9-month-olds’ word segmentation performance, a crucial milestone predicting language development. We hypothesized that coregulation would relate with infants' word segmentation performance. Additionally, we examined whether this relationship is influenced by the caregiving environment (i.e., parental reflective functioning) and the infant's emotional state (i.e., positive affect). Coregulation was investigated via cardiac synchrony in 28 nine-month-old infants (16 females) during a 5-min free-play with their German-speaking mothers. Cardiac synchrony was measured through Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia (RSA), employing Recurrence Quantification Analysis to evaluate dyadic coupling (i.e., Recurrence Rate) and dyadic predictability (i.e., Entropy). Infants' word segmentation was measured with an eye-tracking central-fixation procedure. A stepwise regression revealed that higher dyadic coupling, but not predictability, of the dyads' RSA was associated with infants looking longer toward the screen when listening to novel as compared to familiar test words, indicating advanced word segmentation performance (Cohen's <i>d</i> = 0.25). Moreover, cardiac synchrony correlated positively with maternal sensitivity to their infant's mental states, but not with the infant's positive affect. These results suggest that caregiver-infant biological coregulation may play a foundational role in language acquisition.</p>","PeriodicalId":47895,"journal":{"name":"Infancy","volume":"30 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/infa.70020","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143824675","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This study examined the trajectories of copy behaviors during the first year of life in a group of infants at elevated likelihood for autism (EL) and a group with a typical likelihood for developing autism (TL). It also explored the function of these behaviors in interaction situations, and the correlations between imitated behaviors and language. To this end, a task was designed to elicit mimetic and imitative behaviors, the Traberitea Infant Mimicry and Imitation Task. The results revealed distinct trajectories for mimetic and imitated behaviors, with no significant differences between the two groups. The most prevalent function observed in both groups was the instrumental function; however, an interaction effect was observed in the social function. At 12 months, the mean frequency of the social function was lower in the EL group than in the TL group, though with a small effect size. There were primarily correlations with expressive language in the EL group for both imitation with social function and with instrumental function. These findings are discussed from a perspective that looks toward protective factors and resilience (Elsabbagh 2020), and future implications are suggested regarding the implementation of preemptive enrichment programs for development.
{"title":"Trajectories of Copy Behaviors in Infants With Elevated and Typical Likelihood for Autism: Functions and Correlations With Language","authors":"Carmen Nieto, Ruth Campos, María Verde-Cagiao","doi":"10.1111/infa.70018","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/infa.70018","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>This study examined the trajectories of copy behaviors during the first year of life in a group of infants at elevated likelihood for autism (EL) and a group with a typical likelihood for developing autism (TL). It also explored the function of these behaviors in interaction situations, and the correlations between imitated behaviors and language. To this end, a task was designed to elicit mimetic and imitative behaviors, the Traberitea Infant Mimicry and Imitation Task. The results revealed distinct trajectories for mimetic and imitated behaviors, with no significant differences between the two groups. The most prevalent function observed in both groups was the instrumental function; however, an interaction effect was observed in the social function. At 12 months, the mean frequency of the social function was lower in the EL group than in the TL group, though with a small effect size. There were primarily correlations with expressive language in the EL group for both imitation with social function and with instrumental function. These findings are discussed from a perspective that looks toward protective factors and resilience (Elsabbagh 2020), and future implications are suggested regarding the implementation of preemptive enrichment programs for development.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":47895,"journal":{"name":"Infancy","volume":"30 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143818450","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Yael K. Rayport, Yunzhe Hu, Lissete A. Gimenez, Carlie Du Plessis, Hein J. Odendaal, William P. Fifer, Lauren C. Shuffrey
Toddler visual attention development correlates with subsequent language, cognitive, and social developmental outcomes. This study investigates the association of maternal trauma on toddler looking behaviors in 39 mother-child dyads from the Western Cape Province, South Africa. At 15 months postpartum, maternal trauma was assessed using the Life Events Checklist and toddler multisensory attention skills were measured using the Multisensory Attention Assessment Protocol (MAAP) during eye-tracking. We used two-way mixed ANOVA to analyze the association of maternal trauma and MAAP condition with attention maintenance, intersensory matching, and attention shifting. This study provides support for the MAAP's reliability with a sample of 15-month-old toddlers from a low-income setting. We observed a significant interaction between MAAP condition and maternal trauma group on attention maintenance, but pairwise comparisons did not meet the threshold for statistical significance. In a stratified analysis, toddlers of mothers in the low trauma exposure group demonstrated significant differences in attention maintenance, intersensory matching, and attention shifting by condition. Unexpectedly, toddlers of mothers in the high trauma exposure group did not exhibit significant differences in these attentional skills, potentially indicating attentional adaptations. Further research is needed to explore the relationship between the intergenerational transmission of trauma on infant and toddler multisensory attention skills in low-income settings.
{"title":"Maternal Experiences of Trauma and Toddler Multisensory Attention Skills in a South African Community Cohort","authors":"Yael K. Rayport, Yunzhe Hu, Lissete A. Gimenez, Carlie Du Plessis, Hein J. Odendaal, William P. Fifer, Lauren C. Shuffrey","doi":"10.1111/infa.70017","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/infa.70017","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Toddler visual attention development correlates with subsequent language, cognitive, and social developmental outcomes. This study investigates the association of maternal trauma on toddler looking behaviors in 39 mother-child dyads from the Western Cape Province, South Africa. At 15 months postpartum, maternal trauma was assessed using the Life Events Checklist and toddler multisensory attention skills were measured using the Multisensory Attention Assessment Protocol (MAAP) during eye-tracking. We used two-way mixed ANOVA to analyze the association of maternal trauma and MAAP condition with attention maintenance, intersensory matching, and attention shifting. This study provides support for the MAAP's reliability with a sample of 15-month-old toddlers from a low-income setting. We observed a significant interaction between MAAP condition and maternal trauma group on attention maintenance, but pairwise comparisons did not meet the threshold for statistical significance. In a stratified analysis, toddlers of mothers in the low trauma exposure group demonstrated significant differences in attention maintenance, intersensory matching, and attention shifting by condition. Unexpectedly, toddlers of mothers in the high trauma exposure group did not exhibit significant differences in these attentional skills, potentially indicating attentional adaptations. Further research is needed to explore the relationship between the intergenerational transmission of trauma on infant and toddler multisensory attention skills in low-income settings.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":47895,"journal":{"name":"Infancy","volume":"30 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143786795","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Cultural contexts shape numerous child development outcomes and may be particularly salient for dual language learning children who experience heritage and societal cultures. Previous research suggests that caregivers' cultural orientation is associated with the language their child is exposed to and knows. However, less is known about how caregiver cultural orientation is linked with early child-directed speech and child language knowledge in immigrant households. In a sample of primarily Spanish-speaking, Mexican immigrant mothers and their child (N = 112; 58.9% female) from low-income households, this study examined the links between maternal Mexican and Anglo cultural orientation at child age 9 months, maternal Spanish and English child-directed speech (measured via mother-child free-play) at 2 years, and children's Spanish and English vocabulary knowledge at 3 years. A path model revealed that maternal Anglo orientation predicted children's English vocabulary through English child-directed speech. Although Spanish child-directed speech predicted Spanish vocabulary, maternal Mexican orientation did not predict Spanish child-directed speech or Spanish vocabulary scores. The findings implicate acculturation and societal- and heritage-language child-directed speech as important features to consider when assessing children of immigrants' language environments and learning, making salient the role of cultural contexts on childhood bilingualism.
{"title":"The Role of Early Maternal Cultural Orientation on Spanish-English Child-Directed Speech and Vocabulary Knowledge in Mexican-American Children","authors":"Marissa A. Castellana, Viridiana L. Benitez","doi":"10.1111/infa.70013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/infa.70013","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Cultural contexts shape numerous child development outcomes and may be particularly salient for dual language learning children who experience heritage and societal cultures. Previous research suggests that caregivers' cultural orientation is associated with the language their child is exposed to and knows. However, less is known about how caregiver cultural orientation is linked with early child-directed speech and child language knowledge in immigrant households. In a sample of primarily Spanish-speaking, Mexican immigrant mothers and their child (<i>N</i> = 112; 58.9% female) from low-income households, this study examined the links between maternal Mexican and Anglo cultural orientation at child age 9 months, maternal Spanish and English child-directed speech (measured via mother-child free-play) at 2 years, and children's Spanish and English vocabulary knowledge at 3 years. A path model revealed that maternal Anglo orientation predicted children's English vocabulary through English child-directed speech. Although Spanish child-directed speech predicted Spanish vocabulary, maternal Mexican orientation did not predict Spanish child-directed speech or Spanish vocabulary scores. The findings implicate acculturation and societal- and heritage-language child-directed speech as important features to consider when assessing children of immigrants' language environments and learning, making salient the role of cultural contexts on childhood bilingualism.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":47895,"journal":{"name":"Infancy","volume":"30 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143761956","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Sarah Josephine Rajendra, Qiqi Cheng, Wei-Jun Jean Yeung, Leher Singh
Prior research has demonstrated that infants have the capacity to recognize some familiar words. However, past studies have not analyzed the sociodemographic generalizability of research findings. In the current study, we examine word recognition in a linguistically, ethnically, and socioeconomically diverse community sample. A community sample of Singaporean infants from diverse socioeconomic and linguistic backgrounds between 5 and 12 months of age were tested on their ability to recognize common nouns in a looking-while-listening task. Results revealed that parental socioeconomic status, the amount of exposure to English, and infants’ age significantly predicted their word recognition performance. A subsequent sensitivity analysis revealed that the effects of SES and age on word recognition were robust. The results demonstrate that socioeconomic status contributes significantly to variation in infants’ abilities to recognize familiar words. Findings emphasize the importance of integrating and analyzing effects of sociodemographic representation into studies on infant word learning.
{"title":"Socioeconomic Status Predicts Infant Word Recognition: Evidence From a Linguistically, Ethnically, and Socioeconomically Diverse Community Sample in Singapore","authors":"Sarah Josephine Rajendra, Qiqi Cheng, Wei-Jun Jean Yeung, Leher Singh","doi":"10.1111/infa.70014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/infa.70014","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Prior research has demonstrated that infants have the capacity to recognize some familiar words. However, past studies have not analyzed the sociodemographic generalizability of research findings. In the current study, we examine word recognition in a linguistically, ethnically, and socioeconomically diverse community sample. A community sample of Singaporean infants from diverse socioeconomic and linguistic backgrounds between 5 and 12 months of age were tested on their ability to recognize common nouns in a looking-while-listening task. Results revealed that parental socioeconomic status, the amount of exposure to English, and infants’ age significantly predicted their word recognition performance. A subsequent sensitivity analysis revealed that the effects of SES and age on word recognition were robust. The results demonstrate that socioeconomic status contributes significantly to variation in infants’ abilities to recognize familiar words. Findings emphasize the importance of integrating and analyzing effects of sociodemographic representation into studies on infant word learning.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":47895,"journal":{"name":"Infancy","volume":"30 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143741622","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Qin Liu, Michelle de Haan, Kathy Chant, Kayleigh Lauren Day, Mérari Jizar Lavander-Ferreira, Neil Marlow, Catalina Suarez-Rivera
Development takes place when change in one domain cascades into change in another domain. Preterm infants exhibit disruptions to their object play and the maintenance of a joint focus of attention with another person. Likewise, they tend to experience cognitive delays throughout childhood. By the developmental cascades model, early features of object play and joint engagement in preterm infants predict cognitive development. We examined longitudinal associations between real-time individual differences in parent-infant interactions and long-term outcomes to explore potential developmental processes. Features of infant-object interactions and joint engagement were coded in 20 12-month-old preterm infants (≤ 29 weeks of gestation) during parent-infant free play. Infants were tested again at 30 months using the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, Third Edition. Preterm infants spent most of their time interacting with objects at 12 months, and their parents frequently engaged in their object interactions. The frequency of infant-object interaction bouts per minute at 12 months was negatively associated with 30-month cognitive scores. Furthermore, the percentage of infant-object interaction bouts in which parents practised multimodal engagement was marginally associated with 30-month cognitive scores. We discuss the associations of infant-object interactions and joint engagement with preterm infants' cognitive development.
{"title":"A Longitudinal Study of Preterm Infants at 12 and 30 Months: Links Among Object Interactions, Joint Engagement, and Cognitive Development","authors":"Qin Liu, Michelle de Haan, Kathy Chant, Kayleigh Lauren Day, Mérari Jizar Lavander-Ferreira, Neil Marlow, Catalina Suarez-Rivera","doi":"10.1111/infa.70016","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/infa.70016","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Development takes place when change in one domain cascades into change in another domain. Preterm infants exhibit disruptions to their object play and the maintenance of a joint focus of attention with another person. Likewise, they tend to experience cognitive delays throughout childhood. By the developmental cascades model, early features of object play and joint engagement in preterm infants predict cognitive development. We examined longitudinal associations between real-time individual differences in parent-infant interactions and long-term outcomes to explore potential developmental processes. Features of infant-object interactions and joint engagement were coded in 20 12-month-old preterm infants (≤ 29 weeks of gestation) during parent-infant free play. Infants were tested again at 30 months using the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, Third Edition. Preterm infants spent most of their time interacting with objects at 12 months, and their parents frequently engaged in their object interactions. The frequency of infant-object interaction bouts per minute at 12 months was negatively associated with 30-month cognitive scores. Furthermore, the percentage of infant-object interaction bouts in which parents practised multimodal engagement was marginally associated with 30-month cognitive scores. We discuss the associations of infant-object interactions and joint engagement with preterm infants' cognitive development.</p>","PeriodicalId":47895,"journal":{"name":"Infancy","volume":"30 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/infa.70016","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143741027","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
There are theoretical debates about the definition of joint attention, and empirical debates about when it emerges in development. Here we addressed both debates by investigating the emergence of infants' communicative joint attention bids: looks to their partner's face, accompanied by communicative facial expressions and/or vocalizations, to attempt to initiate joint attention to a referent. We tested 25 infants monthly, longitudinally, between 6 and 10 months using both novel joint attention elicitation tests and free play observations. Even when using a conservative definition of joint attention involving communication, results indicated that a substantial percentage of infants (44%) had already begun to produce joint attention bids by 6 months, with the vast majority (92%) having done so before 9 months. Joint attention bids emerged gradually, with increasing consistency, and were seen earlier in the novel elicitation tests than in free play, suggesting that previous work focusing on free play might have underestimated infants' joint attention. We discuss the implications of these findings for theories of joint attention and communication.
{"title":"The Developmental Origins of Joint Attention: Infants' Early Joint Attention Bids","authors":"Gideon Salter, Malinda Carpenter","doi":"10.1111/infa.70012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/infa.70012","url":null,"abstract":"<p>There are theoretical debates about the definition of joint attention, and empirical debates about when it emerges in development. Here we addressed both debates by investigating the emergence of infants' communicative joint attention bids: looks to their partner's face, accompanied by communicative facial expressions and/or vocalizations, to attempt to initiate joint attention to a referent. We tested 25 infants monthly, longitudinally, between 6 and 10 months using both novel joint attention elicitation tests and free play observations. Even when using a conservative definition of joint attention involving communication, results indicated that a substantial percentage of infants (44%) had already begun to produce joint attention bids by 6 months, with the vast majority (92%) having done so before 9 months. Joint attention bids emerged gradually, with increasing consistency, and were seen earlier in the novel elicitation tests than in free play, suggesting that previous work focusing on free play might have underestimated infants' joint attention. We discuss the implications of these findings for theories of joint attention and communication.</p>","PeriodicalId":47895,"journal":{"name":"Infancy","volume":"30 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/infa.70012","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143707337","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Margaret Cychosz, Anele Villanueva, Adriana Weisleder
Characterizing dual language input in children's environments is critical to understand how early language experiences influence bilingual language development. However, little is known about how dual language exposure is distributed across factors known to influence the kinds of input children receive. This study examined how infants' exposure to each of their languages is distributed across different speakers (adults vs. other children) and speech registers (child- versus adult-directed speech). We examined daylong audio recordings of infants' language environments in two bilingual communities: an indigenous Quechua- and Spanish-speaking community in Bolivia (n = 10, age = 5.7–23.4 months, five females, five males) and an immigrant Spanish- and English-speaking community in the United States (n = 10, age = 6.4–12.6, four females, six males). Infants in both communities were more likely to hear the societal language from older children than from adult caregivers. Infants were also more likely to hear the societal language in child-directed speech, and more of the minoritized language in adult-directed speech, by a factor of more than 4 to 1. These findings shed light on how bilingual infants' language exposure is distributed across social contexts, which may have implications for bilingual language development and maintenance, as distinct social contexts afford different opportunities for engagement and interaction over the course of learning two languages in infancy.
{"title":"Bilingual Language Input to Infants in Bolivia and the United States","authors":"Margaret Cychosz, Anele Villanueva, Adriana Weisleder","doi":"10.1111/infa.70009","DOIUrl":"10.1111/infa.70009","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Characterizing dual language input in children's environments is critical to understand how early language experiences influence bilingual language development. However, little is known about how dual language exposure is distributed across factors known to influence the kinds of input children receive. This study examined how infants' exposure to each of their languages is distributed across different speakers (adults vs. other children) and speech registers (child- versus adult-directed speech). We examined daylong audio recordings of infants' language environments in two bilingual communities: an indigenous Quechua- and Spanish-speaking community in Bolivia (<i>n</i> = 10, age = 5.7–23.4 months, five females, five males) and an immigrant Spanish- and English-speaking community in the United States (<i>n</i> = 10, age = 6.4–12.6, four females, six males). Infants in both communities were more likely to hear the societal language from older children than from adult caregivers. Infants were also more likely to hear the societal language in child-directed speech, and more of the minoritized language in adult-directed speech, by a factor of more than 4 to 1. These findings shed light on how bilingual infants' language exposure is distributed across social contexts, which may have implications for bilingual language development and maintenance, as distinct social contexts afford different opportunities for engagement and interaction over the course of learning two languages in infancy.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":47895,"journal":{"name":"Infancy","volume":"30 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143677331","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}