Maternal learned helplessness and physiologic response to infant crying.

Exposed 49 mothers of 3–4 mo old infants to varying degrees of control over the termination of a tape of infant crying. Each S received 1 of 3 instrumental pretreatments: (a) escape—4 buttonpresses terminated the infant cry, (b) inescape—buttonpress was unrelated to cry termination, and (c) control—mothers passively listened to the cry. Following pretreatment, each S was given an instrumental shuttlebox task consisting of a solvable task with an alternation response that controlled cry termination. Cardiac responses were monitored throughout the session. Ss pretreated with inescapable infant crying showed debilitated performance on the 2nd task. Failure to escape, number of trials to escape criterion, and latency of response to the cry were all greater for the inescape group. In addition, only Ss with prior experience controlling the cry showed cardiac deceleration, an index of attentional processing, during a 10-sec anticipatory period preceding the cry episode of the solvable instrumental task. These cardiac data provide evidence that the important behavioral differences may in part be attributable to differential processing of cues signaling the onset of crying. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Use of oscillating waterbeds and rhythmic sounds for premature infant stimulation.

22 healthy infants born at gestational ages of 28–32 wks were randomly assigned to experimental or control groups within the 1st 4 days following birth. Experimental Ss were placed in incubators equipped with oscillating waterbeds and rhythmic sounds; control Ss were placed in traditional incubators. Results indicate that general developmental progress was enhanced in the experimental group by the stimulation procedure. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Links between maternal care and persistent infant crying in the early months

A community sample was screened to select three groups of infants and their mothers according to how much the babies cried at 6 weeks of age, the peak age for infant crying. The three groups--of moderate (n = 55), evening (n = 38) and persistent criers (n = 67) and their mothers--were assessed by diary, observation and questionnaire measures of mother and infant characteristics and interactions at 6 weeks and 5 months of infant age. At 6 weeks, mothers of persistent criers spent more time interacting with and physically stimulating their babies. Below-optimum maternal sensitivity/affection was linked to moderately increased crying in the infants overall. However, most mothers of persistent criers showed optimum sensitivity and affection, while no significant links between maternal sensitivity/affection and infant crying were found in the persistent crying group. By 5 months, when infant crying declined, the range and size of differences between mothers of persistent criers and other mothers declined. Home observations and a standard play measure failed to show group differences in maternal sensitivity, affection and intrusiveness at this age. The findings show that persistent infant crying in the early months often occurs in spite of high quality maternal care, so that in most cases the crying is probably not due to inadequate parenting. The need to distinguish general community cases from those at social or medical risk is emphasized and the findings' implications for professionals are discussed.     

Contextual basis of maternal perceptions of infant temperament.

To elucidate the differential saliency of infant emotions to mothers across interactive contexts, the authors examined the moderating role of observed infant affect during interactions with mother in the relation between maternal and laboratory-based ratings of infant temperament. Fifty-nine developmentally healthy 9-month-old infants were judged for degree of infant positive, infant negative, and mother-infant mutually positive affect during the course of object-focused and routine home-based activities with mother. Mothers completed the Infant Behavior Questionnaire (M. K. Rothbart, 1981), and infants underwent the Laboratory Temperament Assessment Battery (H. H. Goldsmith & M. K. Rothbart, 1999). Results revealed that maternal and observer ratings of infant negativity converged when infants manifested high degrees of negative affect during routine home-based activities. Maternal and observer ratings of infant positivity converged when infants experienced low mutually positive affect during play. These findings support the hypothesis that maternal perceptions are based on mothers' experiences with their infants but that the salience of infant temperamental characteristics to mothers varies across emotion and interactive context. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Structure and dimensions of maternal perceptions of Japanese infant temperament.

Using a new temperament inventory (the Japanese Temperament Questionnaire) developed from the free response of Japanese mothers asked to describe their infants' behavioral styles, mothers (N?=?469) rated behaviors observed in their 1-, 3-, or 6-mo-old baby. The ratings were factor analyzed and the dimensions generated by the factor analysis were labeled by an independent maternal group. Results support the conclusions that mothers' perceptions of infant temperament were both pancultural and culture specific. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Distress crying in neonates: Species and peer specificity.

Two experiments replicated the results of a series of earlier studies by A. Sagi and M. L. Hoffman (see record 1976-12035-001) and M. L. Simner (see record 1971-28677-001). 70 newborn infants participated. Calm infants cried in response to the tape-recorded crying of other infants. In addition, results show the following: (a) Crying infants continued to cry in response to the crying of another infant. (b) Crying infants who heard their own cry almost completely stopped crying. (c) Calm infants who heard their own cry made practically no response. (d) Calm infants simply ignored the cries of a chimpanzee and older child. It is concluded that these behaviors are peer and species specific. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Time Constraints and Resource Sharing in Adults' Working Memory Spans.

This article presents a new model that accounts for working memory spans in adults, the time-based resource-sharing model. The model assumes that both components (i.e., processing and maintenance) of the main working memory tasks require attention and that memory traces decay as soon as attention is switched away. Because memory retrievals are constrained by a central bottleneck and thus totally capture attention, it was predicted that the maintenance of the items to be recalled depends on both the number of memory retrievals required by the intervening treatment and the time allowed to perform them. This number of retrievals:time ratio determines the cognitive load of the processing component. The authors show in 7 experiments that working memory spans vary as a function of this cognitive load. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adults' memories of childhood: True and false reports.

In 3 experiments, the authors examined factors that, according to the source-monitoring framework, might influence false memory formation and true/false memory discernment. In Experiment 1, combined effects of warning and visualization on false childhood memory formation were examined, as were individual differences in true and false childhood memories. Combining warnings and visualization led to the lowest false memory and highest true memory. Several individual difference factors (e.g., parental fearful attachment style) predicted false recall. In addition, true and false childhood memories differed (e.g., in amount of information). Experiment 2 examined relations between Deese/Roediger-McDermott task performance and false childhood memories. Deese/Roediger-McDermott performance (e.g., intrusion of unrelated words in free recall) was associated with false childhood memory, suggesting liberal response criteria in source decisions as a common underlying mechanism. Experiment 3 investigated adults' abilities to discern true and false childhood memory reports (e.g., by detecting differences in amount of information as identified in Experiment 1). Adults who were particularly successful in discerning such reports indicated reliance on event plausibility. Overall, the source-monitoring framework provided a viable explanatory framework. Implications for theory and clinical and forensic interviews are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stutterers' perceptions of therapy improvement and of posttherapy regression: effects of certain program modifications

In an attempt to improve its effectiveness, a traditional, symptomatic stuttering therapy program for school-age children was modified to (1) focus more upon self-therapy activities while reducing group work emphasis; (2) specify more precisely the target responses used to replace stuttering; (3) establish clearly the criteria for client progress; and (4) provide well-defined activities for the transfer of speech change. Participants used a questionnaire to evaluate their improvement and post-therapy regression in various dimensions of stuttering severity, and results were compared with questionnaire findings from an earlier treatment program. Significantly greater improvement in speech fluency was perceived by the participants following the modified program, and follow-up videotape samples confirmed their perceptions as revealed on the questionnaire.     

An experimental investigation of infant social referencing: Mothers' messages and gender differences.

Examined infant social referencing by observing how 37 12-mo-old infants sought and used maternal messages concerning the affective significance of novel objects during 4 conditions that varied the content (happiness or fear) and presentation mode (unconstrained or trained facial expression) of maternal messages. Findings indicated that mothers, when permitted, supplemented facial expressions with verbal messages that refer both directly and indirectly to the object. Even so, their messages of fear lacked clarity and intensity, especially when directed toward daughters. Infants were able social referencers who often sought and used maternal appraisals even after they had reacted to an object. Maternal messages regulated daughters' but not sons' distance from the objects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

First-time mothers' perceptions of efficacy during the transition to motherhood: Links to infant temperament.

This investigation examined associations between pre- and postnatal reports of 1st-time mothers' depression, anxiety, and marital quality and postnatal reports of infant temperament and changes in feelings of efficacy. Maternal efficacy measured prenatally was associated with concurrent measures of depression, anxiety, marital conflict, and levels of previous child-care experience. Mothers' perception of infant temperament postnatally accounted for a significant proportion of variance in postnatal reports of maternal efficacy. Although individual differences in women's feelings of efficacy were fairly stable, significant increases in maternal efficacy were also observed over time. Findings suggest that 1st-time mothers' beliefs about their ability to perform nurturing routines may change from a global sense of self-competence to more differentiated perceptions of nurturing efficacy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adult crying: A model and review of the literature.

Crying is one of the most powerfully compelling forms of human emotional expression, and yet, until recently, crying has received little attention from behavioral scientists. In this article, a model of adult crying is presented that describes the situations and emotions that elicit crying and characterizes the possible moderating effects of environmental, personal, and cultural factors on crying. Empirical data relevant to the model are summarized, and areas in need of further investigation are identified. In addition, the question of whether and how crying may affect mood and health is considered. It is concluded that the literature is full of ungrounded speculation and that research until now has been rather unsystematic and not sufficiently theory driven. Recently available data, however, pave the way for formulating a more comprehensive theoretical framework for generating testable hypotheses about crying. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The syntactic role of pauses in the speech of schizophrenic patients with alogia.

Examined the relation between alogia and pausing. The authors analyzed the flow of speech of 17 male schizophrenic patients during an interview, particularly the pauses that occurred within and between syntactic clauses and those that occurred as the turn switched from the interviewer's question to the patient's response. The strongest predictor of alogia ratings was the duration of switching pauses; the frequency of long within-clause pauses was also significantly related to alogia, but the frequency of between-clause pauses showed a trend toward a negative relation with alogia. Words following within-clause pauses were more likely to be content words than function words, and the content words were less frequent in the English language than the speaker's other words. This suggests that alogic patients have difficulty in word finding and in thought formulation, as well as a general increase in the duration of all pauses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Individual differences, daily fluctuations, and developmental changes in amounts of infant waking, fussing, crying, feeding, and sleeping

Measures of the amounts of time infants spent asleep, awake-content, feeding, fussing, and crying at 2, 6, 12, and 40 weeks of age were examined using multilevel analysis. This method enables the proportion of the variance in each behavior due to individual differences to be compared to the proportion due to age changes (development) and to day-to-day fluctuations at each age in the same infants. Day-to-day fluctuations were found to account for the largest proportion of the variance in amounts of sleeping, fussing, and crying (between 44% and 53%), testifying to the importance of instability in these behaviors as a characteristic of infancy. Against this background, both development and individual differences explained substantial proportions of the variance, with a somewhat different picture in each area of behavior. Amounts of waking and feeding were mainly accounted for by development, and no evidence of enduring individual differences was found. For sleeping, development and individual difference each contributed approximately a quarter of the variance, and the amounts infants slept remained moderately stable from 6 weeks to 9 months of age. Crying decreased linearly with age, with development accounting for 38% and individual difference 15% of the variance. Fussing proved a more stable characteristic than crying, and "high fussers" at 6 weeks of age were particularly likely to retain this characteristic at 9 months, whereas amount of crying in the first 3 months did not predict 9-month behavior. The study's clinical, conceptual, and methodological implications are discussed.     

Adults' demonstration of underlying Euclidean concepts in relation to task context.

In studies in which Piagetian water-level (horizontality) and plumb-line (verticality) tasks are administered to young adults, females are typically less successful than males. Women may, however, have the underlying spatial competence to use horizontal and vertical axes, but they may be less likely to activate this competence because they lack adequate knowledge of the relevant physical phenomena. To evaluate this possibility, 80 male and 80 female undergraduates were given horizontality and verticality tasks in which knowledge of the physical phenomena was or was not relevant. Results show that sex differences were evident only when knowledge of the physical phenomena was needed. These data support a performance rather than a competence interpretation of adult women's difficulties in the standard Piagetian tasks. Developmental and educational implications are discussed. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Analysis of behavioral durations in observational studies of social interaction.

Many social science disciplines investigate dyadic or triadic social interaction by recording the interactive behaviors as qualitative codes. This article introduces a method for analyzing and interpreting variation in the durations of coded behaviors obtained during such interactions. Using survival analysis and event history analysis as its basis, this article discusses the use of regression techniques that enable the researcher to assess how the distributions of behavioral durations depend on covariate observations. An analysis of conflicts between mothers and children illustrates the discussion, using the proportional hazards model. Behavioral and attitudinal differences among the mother–son dyad predicted variation in the durations of mothers' negative statements to their sons. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Retention of order information for sounds and words.

In 4 experiments with a total of 160 undergraduates and 2 university staff members, short segments of naturalistic sounds were compared with their verbal labels in several tasks requiring retention of order information. Results of Exp I show that ordered recall of 7-item sequences of sounds was poorer than words with interstimulus intervals of 500 msec or shorter, while the difference disappeared with an interstimulus interval of 1 sec. Results of Exp II–IV, which extended the comparison to running memory span, serial probe, and probe recognition tasks, show a superiority of words over sounds in the recency component of the serial position curves in each case. Taken together, findings support the idea that verbal coding facilitates retention of order information, and discount interpretations of the sound–word difference based on higher-order processing strategies or retrieval problems. (French summary) (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)