Newborn cardiac activity was analyzed in the context of the orienting response before and after a feeding, while sleeping and awake. Newborns tended to respond to stimuli with less variability when tested before feeding. The newborn's cardiac response to stimuli in different modalities is affected by arousal state and feeding condition. (ST)

One hundred 18-month-olds were tested using sequential touching and following 4 different priming contexts using sets of toys that could be simultaneously categorized at either the basic or global level. An exact expression of the expected mean sequence length for arbitrary categories was derived as a function of the number of touches made, and a…

Results are discussed in terms of cognitive growth, the psychoanalytic notion of ambivalence, the role of stimulus context in eliciting laughter or fear, and a possible adaptive, stimulus-maintaining function of laughter. (Authors)