From the earliest moments in their lives, infants begin to build memories about their past and accumulate knowledge about the world. In this article, we focus on the distinction between memory for "specific" events and memory for "general" information, and the ongoing debate about which type of memory provides the foundation…

Niche construction is the modification of components of the environment through an organism's activities. Humans modify their environments mainly through ontogenetic and cultural processes, and it is this reliance on learning, plasticity and culture that lends human niche construction a special potency. In this paper we aim to facilitate…

This paper reviews the literature on handedness in infants and reaching behavior in neonates and speculates on evolutionary reasons for the development of handedness. Modern studies have reliably detected handedness from the second half of the first year of life. One study found a preference for the right hand in unimanual tasks at 6.7 months.…

The development of intention to communicate among infants is discussed. In addition, the construct of intention is examined and a model describing the development of intention is proposed. The model is used to describe both the development of intentional behavior and communication as an intentional behavior. (Author/RH)

Articles responds to some issues raised in "The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life," such as the nature of intelligence, its measurement, the importance of personal decisions in determining life outcomes, and the modifiability of intelligence in infants and young children. (Author/JDM)

Explores giftedness from infancy to adolescence within a psychodynamic developmental framework. Gifted development is discussed in terms of drive, ego functions, object relations, and self-experience. Also discussed are the history of giftedness, gifted infants and preschoolers, gifted school-age children, and giftedness in male and female…

This review of the literature regarding the impact of maternal speech on the formation of a child's sense of self compares the speech of well mothers to that of depressed mothers. The review finds that maternal speech has a strong influence on the formation of symbolic self-representations during the toddler period. However, depressed mothers'…

A substantial body of data and a number of reviews of the literature on risk encouraged this attempt to construct a theoretically consistent approach to research on risk. Much of the research can be seen as attempting to estimate the probability that development will be compromised for groups of infants born under different circumstances. Linear…

Imitation by infants functions in two ways: (1) to help the individual understand a puzzling event, and (2) to indicate mutuality with another person. Although changes in cognitive understanding influence the course of imitation, the occurrence of imitation in specific situations may be governed by the interplay of the two functions that imitation…

Demonstrates the need for a process-oriented, constructivist approach to understanding infants' categorization abilities. Suggests that emphasizing the distinction between perceptual and conceptual categorization has been an obstacle to forging an approach. Proposes a more microanalytic consideration of features available to infants at different…

Reviews significant recent research and information related to the beginning period of human life, and specifically discusses the developing fetus and infant, and the surrounding environment in which the infant is born and reared. Suggestions for prevention of mental-health problems are offered. (Author/DB)

Introduces the concepts of online and offline sampling and highlights the role of online sampling in agent-based models of learning and development. Compares the strengths of each approach for modeling particular developmental phenomena and research questions. Describes a recent agent-based model of infant causal perception. Discusses limitations…

Maintains that advances in the literature on perception-action development suggests that tool use may be a more continuous developmental achievement than previously believed. Suggests new research directions, including efforts to investigate the processes by which children detect and relate affordances between objects, coordinate spatial frames of…

The four stages of separation individuation--symbosis, differentiation, practice, and rapprochement--are examined and the early stages of childhood development are discussed in relation to the education of developmentally disabled children. (PHR)

Calls for a process-oriented approach to study of categorization in infancy. Maintains that further understanding of infant categorization and its changes with development requires a more direct assessment of infants' category formation. Argues that two research directions will enhance understanding of categorization: (1) contextual variations on…