The development of social-emotional competence is of key importance during early childhood, particularly during the preschool years. We too often believe that early childhood education should focus on the promotion of academic skills to increase intelligence and, therefore, neglect the importance of social and emotional learning. Children who are…

"Science Briefs" summarize the findings and implications of a recent study in basic science or clinical research. This Brief summarizes the findings and implications of "Moderate Fetal Alcohol Exposure Impairs the Neurogenic Response to an Enriched Environment in Adult Mice" (I. Y. Choi; A. M. Allan; and L. A. Cunningham). Observations of mice…

The perception of colour in an embedded field is affected by the surround colour. This phenomenon is known as chromatic induction. In the present study we investigated whether the colour perception by infants aged 5-7 months could be affected by the surround colour. In Experiments 1 and 2 each stimulus was composed of an array of six squares in…

This prologue introduces an important topic for multiple disciplines involved with children and their families. This introduction includes a review of some of the current literature on the effects of maltreatment and prenatal alcohol exposure on child development, an explanation of why this topic is essential learning for communication…

Essentialism is the belief that certain characteristics (of individuals or categories) may be relatively stable, unchanging, likely to be present at birth, and biologically based. The current studies examined how different essentialist beliefs interrelate. For example, does thinking that a property is innate imply that the property cannot be…

In a recent report, "Child Poverty in Perspective: An Overview of Child Well-Being in Rich Countries," UNICEF's Innocenti Research Centre looks at the well-being of children and young people in 21 nations of the industrialized world. The report measures child well-being in six categories: (1) material well-being; (2) health and safety;…

This study examined emotional awareness in children with autism. Twenty-two high functioning children with autism (mean age 10 years and 2 months) and 22 typically developing children, matched for age and gender, were presented with the four basic emotions (happiness, anger, sadness and fear) in single and multiple emotion tasks. Findings suggest…

By three to four months of age, most babies placed on their tummies on a safe, warm surface push down with their arms and raise their chests, so that they can turn their heads to look about at the world around them. By five months, babies stretch both feet and hands upward in order to swipe at interesting mobiles placed overhead. At seven to nine…

This article critiques the Smart Population Foundation Initiative (SPFI), which was established to "bring parenting information and the science of child development to Australian parents and carers" (Smart Population Foundation, 2006) and to satisfy the need for a credible and easily accessible source of information for parents. The…

Although several art educators have called our attention to the importance of studying visual culture, others have widened the discussion to include material culture and its effects on our lives. Because of growing concern for the value of exploring the personal and social functions of visual and material culture, the purpose of this article is to…

Despite its considerable intellectual interest and great social relevance, religion has been neglected by contemporary developmental psychologists. But in the last few years, there has been an emerging body of research exploring children's grasp of certain universal religious ideas. Some recent findings suggest that two foundational aspects of…

Early experience preserves and refines many capabilities that emerge prenatally. Here we describe another role that it plays--establishing the neural substrate for capabilities that emerge at a much later point in development. The evidence comes from sleeper effects: permanent deficits when early experience was absent in capabilities that normally…

In the adult human brain, the presence of a system matching the observation and the execution of actions is well established. This mechanism is thought to rely primarily on the contribution of so-called "mirror neurons", cells that are active when a specific gesture is executed as well as when it is seen or heard. Despite the wealth of evidence…

It has been proposed that specific language impairment (SLI) is the consequence of low-level abnormalities in auditory perception. However, studies of long-latency auditory ERPs in children with SLI have generated inconsistent findings. A possible reason for this inconsistency is the heterogeneity of SLI. The intraclass correlation (ICC) has been…

The Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development-Third Edition (Bayley-III) is a revision of the frequently used and well-known Bayley Scales of Infant Development-Second Edition (BSID-II; Bayley, 1993). Like its prior editions, the Bayley-III is an individually administered instrument designed to measure the developmental functioning of…