Some investigators have suggested that young infants show a preference for familiar stimuli, which is supplanted by a preference for novel stimuli as they get older and the act of recognition becomes commonplace. We have carried out two studies that fail to support this developmental view but suggest instead that shifts in preference reflect phases in information processing that occur within a given age; it is only the speed of processing that changes across ages. In the first study, infants aged 3'/2, 4 ! /a, and 6'/2 months were tested for visual recognition memory of shapes, using the paired comparison procedure. Each problem consisted of a familiarization period followed by a test during which the familiar and novel member of the pair were both presented. The 3'/4-month-olds showed a strong preference for the familiar; the 416-, and especially the 6'/£-month-olds, showed a preference for the novel. In the second study, however, these shifts were found to depend more on familiarization time than on age. Here, infants aged 3 l /2 months were allowed either 5, 10, 15, 20, or 30 sec of familiarization; those aged 6'/a months were allowed either 5, 10, or 15 sec. Infants of both ages showed a preference for the familiar stimulus after limited exposure to it (10 and 5 sec, respectively); this preference shifted to a preference for the novel stimulus after more extended exposure (30 and 15 sec, respectively). It would appear that, regardless of age, infants prefer to look at that which is familiar as they begin to process a stimulus; once processing becomes more advanced, their preference shifts to the novel.

Several aspects of visual attention and their implications for recognition memory were examined in a longitudinal sample of full-term and preterm (birth weight < 1,750 g) infants seen at 5, 7, and 12 months of age. At all 3 ages, full-terms had shorter look durations, faster shift rates, less off-task behavior, and higher novelty scores than preterms. Both groups followed similar developmental trajectories, with older infants having shorter looks and more shifts. Infants were consistent in attentional style across problems of the same type, across problems that used different types of stimuli (faces and patterns), and across the familiarization and test phases of this paired-comparison design; there was also modest cross-age stability. Shorter looks and higher shift rates during familiarization were related to better recognition memory, with shift rate adding to prediction independently of either peak or mean look. These findings underscore the importance of attention to infant information processing.

Toy choices of 3‐ to 10‐year‐old children with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) and of their unaffected siblings were assessed. Also assessed was parental encouragement of sex‐typed toy play. Girls with CAH displayed more male‐typical toy choices than did their unaffected sisters, whereas boys with and without CAH did not differ. Mothers and fathers encouraged sex‐typical toy play in children with and without CAH. However, girls with CAH received more positive feedback for play with girls' toys than did unaffected girls. Data show that increased male‐typical toy play by girls with CAH cannot be explained by parental encouragement of male‐typical toy play. Although parents encourage sex‐appropriate behavior, their encouragement appears to be insufficient to override the interest of girls with CAH in cross‐sexed toys.

This study identified deficits in executive functioning in pre-adolescent preterms and modeled their role, along with processing speed, in explaining preterm/full-term differences in reading and mathematics. Preterms (< 1750 g) showed deficits at 11 years on a battery of tasks tapping the three basic executive functions identified by Miyake - updating/working memory, inhibition, and shifting. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that these executive functions, though correlated, were distinct from one another and from processing speed, which later proved to account for much of the intercorrelation among executive functions. In the best-fitting structural equation model, the negative effects of prematurity on achievement were completely mediated by the three executive functions and speed in a cascade of effects: prematurity → slower processing speed → poorer executive functioning (working memory) → lower achievement in math and reading.

Processing speed was assessed at 5, 7, and 12 months in full-term and preterm infants (birth-weight < 1,750 g). Speed was gauged directly in a new task by presenting infants with a series of paired faces, one that remained the same across trials and one that changed; trials continued until infants showed a consistent novelty preference. At all ages, preterms required about 20% more trials and 30% more time than full-terms to reach criterion. Among preterms, slower processing was associated with greater medical risk (e.g., respiratory distress syndrome). Developmental trajectories for speed (and attention) were similar for both groups. Thus, the deficits in processing speed previously found for preterms in childhood are already present in the 1st year of life.

Recent work suggests that executive functions, the cornerstone of higher-level cognitive operations, are driven by basic information processing abilities. Using structural equation modeling, with latent variables, the present study provides the first evidence that this driving force begins in infancy, such that abilities in infancy predict executive functions at age 11. Information processing abilities in three domains (attention, processing speed, and memory) were assessed when participants were infants (7 and 12 months) and toddlers (24 and 36 months) and were used to predict three executive functions (working memory, inhibition, and shifting) when participants were 11 years old. A model relating infant abilities to age-11 executive functions fit well, and accounted for 9% to 19% of the variance in the executive functions. Paths from both speed and memory in infancy to age-11 working memory were significant, as was the path from Speed in infancy to age-11 Shifting. A model using abilities in toddlerhood as predictors fit similarly. These findings implicate early basic cognitive abilities in the development of executive functions.

No abstract

This study examined the stability of behavior problems in 44 low SES children ages 2–5 years using the preschool and standard versions of Achenbach's Child Behavior Checklist. While scores for the present sample did not differ significantly from Achenbach's standardization sample at age 2, scores at ages 4 and 5 were somewhat elevated; this was true for the Total score, as well as for the two broad-band scores (Internalizing and Externalizing). At all ages, the Internalizing and Externalizing scores correlated highly with one another (r= .58 to .74). Stability coefficients across one to three year intervals revealed significant continuity for the Total and Externalizing scores (r= .42 to .73). Internalizing scores were stable only between ages 4 and 5 (r= .53). In addition, early Externalizing scores also predicted subsequent Internalizing scores, suggesting that early Externalizing symptomatology has diverse implications. Maternal depression and negative life events, assessed at ages 4 and 5, correlated strongly with child behavior scores at both these ages. However, neither factor accounted for the stability in childrens' symptomatology. Overall, the levels of stability found here were comparable to those reported for older children. The results are discussed in terms of developmental psychopathology, with particular attention to the finding that (a) developmentally maladaptive behavior can be identified at very young ages, even in 2-year-olds, and (b) that such behavior problems are far more persistent than hitherto believed. Such findings underscore the importance of early identification and intervention.