Toys and social interaction between infant peers

Claims that young infants fail to react in a social manner to one another and that toys preempt attention to peers were assessed by comparing the interactions observed between infant peers when they met in the presence of toys versus in their absence. 44 pairs of unacquainted infants (either 10--12 or 22--24 months of age) came with their mothers to an unfamiliar room. Without toys available in the room, infants of both ages more often contacted one another, smiled at and gestured to one another, and duplicated each other's actions. With toys, they showed and exchanged toys and spent more time synchronously manipulating similar play material. The results document that infants as young as 10 months of age are responsive to the person and behavior of an unfamiliar peer and that they are no less responsive than older infants to the social versus nonsocial aspects of a novel setting.     

Infants of Depressed Mothers Exhibit Atypical Frontal Electrical Brain Activity during Interactions with Mother and with a Familiar, Nondepressed Adult

Previous studies have shown that infants of depressed mothers exhibit atypical frontal brain electrical activity when they are interacting with their mothers. Whereas typically developing infants exhibit greater left versus right frontal brain activity, infants of depressed mothers have been found to exhibit reduced relative left frontal activity. The left frontal brain region has been associated with the expression of positive emotions. In the present study, the question of whether the atypical pattern of brain activity found in infants of depressed mothers generalizes to situations not involving mother was addressed. Brain electrical activity was recorded from 13- to 15-month-old infants of depressed (N = 59) versus nondepressed (N = 40) mothers during a baseline condition, and during several social conditions that included a playful social interaction with a familiar experiments. Infants of depressed mothers exhibited reduced left relative to right frontal activity during the baseline condition, and during interactions with their mothers and with the familiar experimenter. The present results suggest that the atypical pattern of electrical brain activity found in infants of depressed mothers generalizes to a variety of situations, including positive interactions with nondepressed adults.     

The Ontogeny of Social Information Gathering

When facing the unknown, humans tend to consult others for guidance. This propensity to treat others as information sources has wide-ranging implications, being in part responsible for the breadth and depth of our world knowledge. As yet, little is known concerning when and how young children acquire this important skill. Social referencing and communicative abilities in infancy have been interpreted by many as reflecting precocious social information-seeking ability, but the evidence is far from compelling and equally compatible with an attachment regulation interpretation. While the evidence indicates that infants as young as 12 months are good consumers of social information, it falls well short of demonstrating that they are active seekers of that information. Moreover, genuine social information seeking requires an implicit conception of the knowledge-ignorance distinction, and existing research on children's theories of mind suggests that such a conception is most likely not available in infancy. For these reasons, we argue for a developmental account of social information-gathering ability, one that is consistent with the larger body of evidence concerning sociocognitive abilities in infants and young children.     

早期音乐启蒙与0～3岁婴幼儿的发展

0～3岁是人一生发展的最重要时期,也是大脑发育的黄金期和听觉发育的关键期。抓住这一时期探究适合婴幼儿身心发展规律的早期音乐启蒙的理论与实践的方法和策略,有助于增强婴幼儿的听觉辨别能力和对音乐的感受力;有助于婴幼儿智力（记忆力、想像力、创造力）的开发;有助于婴幼儿情绪稳定,心情愉快,内心平静,使其身心健康和谐地发展。     

基于Silverlight的位置社交网站实现

本文通过GIS空间分析方法对社交网络在时空框架中的变化过程及规律进行可视化表达,将LBS与SNS相结合,构建基于位置的社交网站,实现了时空社交网络数据的有效组织和管理,并使用Silverlight相应的可视化控件以及扩展,对社交网络可视化方法进行探究,以可视化方式形象展示各种社交网络专题内容、好友空间分布和数量统计规律,并提高社交网站的用户体验.     

A study of multimodal motherese: the role of temporal synchrony between verbal labels and gestures

This study examined European American and Hispanic American mothers' multimodal communication to their infants (N = 24). The infants were from three age groups representing three levels of lexical-mapping development: prelexical (5 to 8 months), early-lexical (9 to 17 months), and advanced-lexical (21 to 30 months). Mothers taught their infants four target (novel) words by using distinct objects during a semistructured play episode. Recent research suggests that young infants rely on temporal synchrony to learn syllable-object relations, but later, the role of synchrony diminishes. Thus, mothers' target and nontarget naming were coded for synchrony and other communication styles. The results indicated that mothers used target words more often than nontarget words in synchrony with object motion and sometimes touch. Thus, "multimodal motherese" likely highlights target word-referent relations for infants. Further, mothers tailored their communication to infants' level of lexical-mapping development. Mothers of prelexical infants used target words in synchrony with object motion more often than mothers of early- and advanced-lexical infants. Mothers' decreasing use of synchrony across age parallels infants' decreasing reliance on synchrony, suggesting a dynamical and reciprocal environment-organismic relation.     

Maternal separation in bonnet monkey infants: altered attachment and social support

Maternal separation in young pigtail (M. nemestrina) monkeys results in an agitation-depression reaction that is a useful animal model of the behavioral and physiological consequences and separation and loss experiences in humans. In this study, 5 social-group-living bonnet (M. radiata) monkey infants were separated from their mothers for 4 days, and behavioral, physiological, and sleep-pattern changes were monitored. Behavioral and physiological changes were consistent with an agitation reaction. There was evidence of depression in both behavioral and physiological measures; these changes were not as pronounced as in pigtail infants, however. All infants were adopted by another adult female during separation. Our findings suggest that, in bonnet monkey infants, adoption by a female within the social group ameliorates the response to loss.     

青少年网络行为的社会控制

网络社会的内在结构性风险,导致已有的借助技术、法律、道德以及日常控制等实现的社会控制方式,在应用于青少年网络行为控制时,面临一种悖论或失效的处境。消除网络对青少年的负面影响,应通过制度建设、风险管理、共同治理、网络素养教育、需要满足场域转移等措施和方法,构建网络行为的社会时空边界,将网络行为风险控制在安全的时空边界以内。     

The role of person familiarity in young infants' perception of emotional expressions

This research investigated the role of person familiarity in the ability of 3.5-month-old infants to recognize emotional expressions. Infants (N = 72) were presented simultaneously with two filmed facial expressions, happy and sad, accompanied by a single vocal expression that was concordant with one of the two facial expressions. Infants' looking preferences and facial expressions were coded. Results indicated that when the emotional expressions were portrayed by each infant's own mother, infants looked significantly longer toward the facial expressions that were accompanied by affectively matching vocal expressions. Infants who were presented with emotional expressions of an unfamiliar woman did not. Even when a brief delay was inserted between the presentation of facial and vocal expressions, infants who were presented with emotional expressions of their own mothers looked longer at the facial expression that was sound specified, indicating that some factor other than temporal synchrony guided their looking preferences. When infants viewed the films of their own mothers, they were more interactive and expressed more positive and less negative affect. Moreover, infants produced a greater number of full and bright smiles when the sound-specified emotion was "happy," and particularly when they viewed the happy expressions of their own mothers. The average duration of negative affect was significantly longer for infants who observed the unfamiliar woman than for those who observed their own mothers. These results show that when more contextual information-that is, person familiarity-was available, infants as young as 3.5 months of age recognized happy and sad expressions. These findings suggest that in the early stages of development, infants are sensitive to contextual information that potentially facilitates some of the meaning of others' emotional expressions.     

A new perspective on emotions

This paper reviews the recent history of the study of human emotions in psychology and traces the factors that have been responsible for a remarkable increase of interest in emotions, especially in human development. In particular, it traces the rise of the study of emotions as regulators of human behavior. A particularly clear and powerful illustration of the regulatory role of emotional expressions on behavior is the phenomenon of social referencing. This concept deals with the use of emotional information in another's facial, vocal or gestural expression to clarify uncertain situations. Research on social referencing is reviewed, showing the importance of social referencing with infants as young as 8.5 months. The clinical implications of the concept are briefly explored.     

新时期高校青年教师思想政治工作探讨

青年教师是高等教育事业发展的生力军,是高校教师群体的重要组成部分,是大学生学习知识和思想进步的引路人,加强和改进高校青年教师思想政治工作具有重大意义。新时期做好高校青年教师思想政治工作,要坚持以人为本,解决青年教师的实际问题;积极创造条件,深入开展社会实践活动;占领网络阵地,加强网络思想政治工作;正视心理问题,关注青年教师心理健康。     

青少年"上网成瘾症"的原因及对策

随着互联网的快速发展，青少年“上网成瘾症”成为一个严重的社会问题。从生理和社会心理两方面来分析“上网成瘾症”的成因，并有针对性地提出切实可行的措施和对策，是网络现象研究的重要课题。     

A systematic review and Bayesian meta-analysis of the development of turn taking in adult–child vocal interactions

Fluent conversation requires temporal organization between conversational exchanges. By performing a systematic review and Bayesian multi-level meta-analysis, we map the trajectory of infants’ turn-taking abilities over the course of early development (0 to 70 months). We synthesize the evidence from 26 studies (78 estimates from 429 unique infants, of which at least 152 are female) reporting response latencies in infant–adult dyadic interactions. The data were collected between 1975 and 2019, exclusively in North America and Europe. Infants took on average circa 1 s to respond, and the evidence of changes in response over time was inconclusive. Infants’ response latencies are related to those of their adult conversational partners: an increase of 1 s in adult response latency (e.g., 400 to 1400 ms) would be related to an increase of over 1 s in infant response latency (from 600 to 1857 ms). These results highlight the dynamic reciprocity involved in the temporal organization of turn-taking. Based on these results, we provide recommendations for future avenues of enquiry: studies should analyze how turn-by-turn exchanges develop on a longitudinal timescale, with rich assessment of infants’ linguistic and social development.     

Improving outcomes for babies and toddlers in child welfare: A model for infant mental health intervention and collaboration

Children under three comprise a sizable and growing proportion of foster care placements. Very young children who enter the child welfare system experience disruptions of critical attachments that are essential to this formative stage of brain development, as well as other traumatic events, leaving them at great risk for lifelong impairments. To reverse these concerning outcomes, babies who have been removed from their homes require intensive, relationship-based interventions that promote secure attachment to a primary caregiver and holistic attention the child's developmental needs. Child welfare decision-makers must be informed of infant brain development and knowledgeable about the particular needs and circumstances of each child. This article describes a model with these features that has been developed and tested in the Bronx, New York, one of the nation's poorest urban counties with high rates of foster care. The Project utilizes evidence-based Child-Parent Psychotherapy (CPP) as its core intervention, and emphasizes collaboration and information sharing– driven by the CPP clinician– with judges, child welfare workers, attorneys and other social service and mental health providers, thereby encouraging developmentally and relationally informed case planning and permanency decisions. The model is evaluated using pre and post treatment psychosocial measures and program outcome data. Results indicate improvement in parenting interactions, positive child welfare outcomes (including increased rates of reunification, fewer returns to foster care), and improved safety and wellbeing. Results highlight the need for child welfare practices to be more closely aligned with the current science of infant brain development, and to incorporate a specialized approach to address the unique needs of infants.     

Environmental learning in online social networks: adopting environmentally responsible behaviors

Online social networks are increasingly important information and communication tools for young people and for the environmental movement. Networks may provide the motivation for young adults to increase environmental behaviors by increasing their knowledge of environmental issues and of the specific actions they can take to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This study examined an application within Facebook.com – the largest online social network in the world – that allowed users to post climate change news stories from other websites and comment on those stories. A survey revealed that users of the social networking application reported above average knowledge of climate change science and that self‐reported environmental behaviors increased during young people's involvement with the Facebook application. Focus groups indicated that peer role modeling through interaction on the site motivated pro‐environmental behaviors, that is, behavior that seeks to minimize the negative impact of one's actions on the natural and built world. Participation in a community of like‐minded users spurred many participants to learn more about climate change and do more to limit its impact.     

In Defense of Qualitative Changes in Development

The balance between the preservation of early cognitive functions and serious transformations on these functions shifts across time. Piaget’s writings, which favored transformations, are being replaced by writings that emphasize continuities between select cognitive functions of infants and older children. The claim that young infants possess elements present in the older child’s concepts of number, physical impossibility, and object permanence is vulnerable to criticism because the inferences are based primarily on the single measure of change in looking time. It is suggested that investigators use unique constructs to describe phenomena observed in young infants that appear, on the surface, to resemble the psychological competences observed during later developmental stages.     

基于ICA的运动成瘾者默认网络研究

为了探究运动成瘾者的静息态脑功能状态,常熟市第二人民医院收集了26例运动成瘾者(运动成瘾组)和21例非运动成瘾者(正常对照组)的功能磁共振成像数据,采用独立成分分析(ICA)方法对预处理后的数据进行处理,针对所提取的默认网络中额叶、顶叶、枕叶和颞叶4个脑区,分析其中体素的分布情况,通过对比运动成瘾组和正常对照组的数据结果,探讨运动成瘾者默认网络的特点.结果发现:相比正常对照组,运动成瘾组的默认网络具有一定的异常,运动成瘾对于人脑具有一定的积极影响和消极影响.     

Learning in Early Childhood: experiences,relationships and ‘Learning to Be’

Learning in the earliest stage of life — the infancy, toddlerhood and preschool period — is relational and rapid. Child-initiated and adult-mediated conversations, playful interactions and learning through active involvement are integral to young children making sense of their environments and to their development over time. The child's experience in this early phase of life is at the heart of ‘Learning to Be’ in any society. This article reviews early learning studies aimed at understanding children's personal, intellectual and social development, and promoting that development. Particular reference is made to attachment and attention, the process of self-regulation, and the adult-child engagement strategies that advance the child's receptive and expressive language: these all exercise substantial influence on early childhood learning and child development outcomes over time. The selected research studies variously highlight the development of infants, toddlers, and young children in kindergarten and the early years of school, and how children make sense of their environments as social, learning and unique human beings. Both the home learning environment and early childhood education programmes are important in children's development. This article argues for high-quality early childhood experience and giving attention to the engagement role of adults in advancing young children's development, minimising the risk of poor development and supporting positive long-lasting personal, academic and social benefits. In this early phase of life, in the words of Jacques Delors: ‘… none of the talents which are hidden like buried treasure in every person must be left untapped’. (Delors et al. 1996, p. 23).     

Maternal depression and motherese: temporal and intonational features

Children of depressed parents are at increased risk for depression and other developmental problems. Recent research indicates that disturbances exist in face-to-face interactions between depressed mothers and their infants. In the present study, the effects of maternal depression on motherese, an interactive behavior that plays a significant role in affective, cognitive, and social development, were examined. 2 paralinguistic features of motherese were examined: temporal parameters of utterances and pauses and the frequency of use of 5 types of intonation contours typically found in motherese utterances. Face-to-face interactions between 36 mothers and their 3-4-month-old infants were audio-recorded, and hard copy records of pitch contours and relative intensity were produced for 2-min interaction sequences. Results indicated that depressed mothers failed to modify their behavior according to the behavior of the infant. They were significantly slower to respond to an infant vocalization, had more variable utterances and pauses, and were less likely to utilize the exaggerated intonation contours that are characteristic of motherese. The results provide evidence for a mechanism through which maternal depression increases the infant's risk for psychopathology.     

Environmental and social influences on reading skills as indexed by brain and behavioral responses

The research described in this article uses findings from longitudinal studies involving electrophysiological and behavioral assessments of infants and young children. Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) offer a basis for understanding how areas of the brain react to specific stimuli that are thought to play a role in the development of language and reading abilities. In this paper, we review a series of studies that identify markers in the ERPs that are related to differences in the development of language and reading skills. In addition, there is compelling evidence supporting the role of the home environment and other variables that influence the intellectual level of the child’s environment (e.g., SES, parental IQ, parenting practices, family activities) in the development of language and reading in preschool and school-aged children. In this paper, measures of these environmental variables are linked with predictions of language and reading skill development. Efforts to integrate information about the influence of the environment on brain responses to better understand the development of early language and reading skills are described.