Caregivers play an outsized role in shaping early life experiences and development, but we often lack mechanistic insight into "how" exactly caregiver behavior scaffolds the neurodevelopment of specific learning processes. Here, we capitalized on the fact that caregivers differ in how predictable their behavior is to ask if infants'…

This study of 195 (108 boys) children seen twice during infancy (Time 1: 4.12 months; Time 2: 14.42 months) aimed to investigate the associations between and infant predictors of executive function (EF) at 14 months. Infants showed high levels of compliance with the EF tasks at 14 months. There was little evidence of cohesion among EF tasks but…

We develop a model of induced innovation that applies to medical research. Our model yields three empirical predictions. First, initial death rates and subsequent research effort should be positively correlated. Second, research effort should be associated with more rapid mortality declines. Third, as a byproduct of targeting the most common…

The usefulness of certain psychological tests administered during infancy for the prediction of intelligence test performance during early childhood was the focus of this investigation. (Authors)

To find predictive relations between measures taken in infancy and later scores on intelligence tests, a study was made that measured in the infant those cognitive processes examined later in life. Operant conditioning tasks were employed which required 3-, 7-, and 11-month-old infants to execute some response to produce an environmental…

Addresses the utility of a noninvasive measure of cardiac vagal tone in predicting developmental outcome among infants at risk for cognitive disabilities. Results suggest that measurement of cardiac vagal tone may provide an important means for assessing risk in birth-stressed populations. (Author/RH)

Perinatal variables were used to predict 7-year outcome for 538 children, 32% Negro and 68% white. Mother's age, birthplace, education, occupation, marital status, neuropsychiatric status, family income, number supported, birth weight, one- and five-minute Apgar scores were regressed on 7-year Verbal, Performance and Full Scale IQ, Bender, Wide…

This paper presents results of a preliminary study which evaluated medical birth data as potential predictors of developmental outcome, and developed and tested an instrument designed for this purpose. Forty low birthweight children, all of whom had experienced neonatal intraventricular hemorrhage, were evaluated at school age (66 months) on the…

This paper discusses issues connected with the reliability of the Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS) in terms of behavior prediction, neonatal behavioral organization and stability, and consequent implications for study of newborns. Discussion focuses on: (1) reliability, and (2) prediction and neonatal assessment. The NBAS is seen as a…