Long before children learn language, they communicate with gestures, vocalizations, facial expressions, and body language. This is known as prelinguistic (prior to language) communication. Most children learn this type of communication without formal teaching, but children who are deaf-blind may need guidance to learn it. This publication…

DevDevelopmental improvements in face identity recognition ability are widely documented, but the source of children's immaturity in face recognition remains unclear. Differences in the way in which children and adults visually represent faces might underlie immaturities in face recognition. Recent evidence of a face identity aftereffect (FIAE),…

The capacity for empathy is important to the human community, and the art classroom provides a unique environment in which this capacity can be developed. Connections to objects of art and material culture, as forged by individual students and also shared with classmates, can be as empathic as they are meaningful. An openness to others and their…

Adam K. Anderson, recipient of the Award for Distinguished Scientific Early Career Contributions to Psychology, is cited for his outstanding contribution to understanding the representation of emotion and its influence on cognition. By combining psychological and neuroscience techniques with rigorous and creative experimental designs, Anderson has…

Using a socio-cultural lens, this study explores two unique populations participating in an intergenerational music experience: seven infants/caregivers (ages 3-16 months) and eight retired women religious (ages 70-94). I was curious to examine how music-making across ages might facilitate new-found meaning for old people whilst simultaneously…

The aim of this study was to investigate the temporal structure of mother-infant interactions with songs, with particular attention to two aspects: 1) the singing of the mothers to their infants, and 2) the non-verbal behaviours mothers and infants produce in synchrony with the musical beat. Four mother-infant dyads were video-recorded when the…

The "new sociology of childhood" emphasizes listening to the voices of children when conducting research about their lives. In keeping with this framework, the following case study highlights the use of inclusive strategies and the importance of the researcher's orientation in exploring the perspectives of a child who does not use speech to…

Infants' response to maternal mirroring was investigated in 4-month-old infants. Mother-infant dyads participated in the still face and replay tasks. Infants were grouped by those whose mothers did and did not mirror their behavior in the interactive phases of the tasks. In the still face task, infants with maternal mirroring showed more…

Two experiments investigated attention of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to faces and objects. In both experiments, children (7- to 15-year-olds) detected the difference between 2 visual scenes. Results in Experiment 1 revealed that typically developing children (n = 16) detected the change in faces faster than in objects, whereas…

This naturalistic observational study described the similarities and differences in physical interactions involving preschoolers and kindergartners within the context of a US childcare facility. It examined patterns of touch involving the children across center and circle activities within the course of their day. Results indicated that…

The study of selective attention and its influence on communication in patients with Rett Syndrome (RS), in which communication abilities are impaired is particularly relevant. The aim of this study was to analyse attention and communication abilities in RS. A sample of 20 children (10 girls with RS and 10 control girls, matched on mental age)…

The ability to predict the effects of actions is necessary to behave properly in our physical and social world. Here, we describe how the ability to predict the consequence of complex gestures can change the way we integrate sight and sound when relevant visual information is missing. Six drummers and six novices were asked to judge audiovisual…

We investigated whether infants comprehend others' nonverbal communicative intentions directed to a third person, in an "overhearing" context. An experimenter addressed an assistant and indicated a hidden toy's location by either gazing ostensively or pointing to the location for her. In a matched control condition, the experimenter performed…

Mathematical concepts and conceptions have been theorized as abstractions from--and therefore transcending--bodily and embodied experience. In this contribution, we re-theorize mathematical conceptions by building on recent philosophical work in dialectical phenomenology. Accordingly, a conception exists only in, through, and as of the experiences…

This paper comments on the expanded repertoire of techniques, conceptual frameworks, and perspectives developed to study the phenomena of gesture, bodily action and other modalities as related to thinking, learning, acting, and speaking. Certain broad issues are considered, including (1) the distinction between "contextual" generalization of…