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1
Humphry, Ruth Anne. "Colic in infancy and the mother-infant relationship /." The Ohio State University, 1985. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1487260531955972.
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Hayes, Rachel Anne. "Speech perception in infancy : infants' perception of rhyming and alliterative syllables." Thesis, University of Exeter, 2002. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.248118.
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Schafer, Graham. "Word learning in infancy." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1998. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.242032.
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Tan, Lynne S. C. "Numerical understanding in infancy." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1997. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.388999.
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Leibold, Lori J. "Informational masking in infancy /." Thesis, Connect to this title online; UW restricted, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/1773/8191.
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Connors, Elizabeth. "Mother-infant interaction and the development of mastery motivation in infancy." Thesis, University of Central Lancashire, 1995. http://clok.uclan.ac.uk/20037/.
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Infant motivation towards competence or mastery is said to be enhanced by contingent environmental feedback (White, 1959). This theory has been supported by research into the contingent responsiveness of the infant caretaking environment (e.g. Vondra & Belsky, 1989). Other caregiving variables have also been found to contribute such as the provision of sensory stimulation, focusing infant attention and low restrictiveness (Belsky, Goode & Most, 1980, Jennings, Harmon, Morgan, Gaiter & Yarrow, 1979; Yan-ow, Morgan, Jennings, Harmon & Gaiter, 1982). However, findings have been inconsistent. The first aim of the present study was to clari& previous research findings and, more specifically, to determine the importance of contingent experience in the first half year of life to the development of mastery motivation as this period has hitherto been neglected. Secondly, as the experience of social contingencies early in infancy has also been found to be associated with security of infant-caregiver attachment (Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters & Wall, 1978), it was hypothesised that there would be a relationship between infant attachment and mastery motivation. Finally, on the basis of findings that more difficult infants may experience less responsive maternal caregiving (van den Boom, 1989), it was proposed that infant difficultness would also be related to mastery motivation. 55 Mother-infant pairs were observed in everyday home interaction at 3 '/2, 8 and 14 months. Maternal contingent responsiveness, sensitivity, warmth, stimulation, infant attention focusing, restrictions and intrusive/insensitive behaviour were studied in relation to infant social and inanimate interaction. Mothers completed the ICQ (Bates, Freeland & Lounsbury, 1979) as a measure of infant diThcultness at each of the three stages. At 8 and 14 months infant mastery motivation was examined using a standard free-play procedure (Vondra & Belsky, 1991). Finally, infant attachment was measured at 14 months using the Attachment Behaviour Q-sort (Waters, 1987). Findings revealed that maternal contingent responsiveness to infant social initiations and distress, stimulation and focusing infant attention, measured at various stages of the study were positively correlated with aspects of infant mastery motivation measured at 8 and 14 months. Restrictions and intrusive/insensitive behaviour were found to be negatively correlated with infant mastery motivation. Stepwise regression indicated that the most significant predictors of 8 month mastery motivation were maternal warmth measured at 3 '/2 months and stimulation and intrusive/insensitive behaviour measured at 8 months. Responsiveness to infant distress and maternal intrusive/insensitive behaviour, both measured at 3 1/2 months, were found to be significant predictors of 14 month mastery motivation, thus, providing evidence of the importance of contingent responding during the early infancy period. However, intrusive/insensitive behaviour and contingent responsiveness to infant social initiations measured at 14 months were also significant predictors of 14 month mastery motivation. A moderate, but significant relationship was found between infant Attachment Q-sort scores and one measure of 14 month mastery motivation which indicated that more securely attached infants explored at a higher level of sophistication and showed greater pleasure in free-play. Stepwise regression indicated that the strongest predictors of 14 month infant attachment security were maternal warmth measured at 3 1/2 and 14 months and maternal sensitivity measured at 8 months. Contingent responsiveness at 3 1/2 months was not found to be of special significance to the development of secure attachment. Finally, infants rated as more difficult by their mothers performed more poorly along several measures of both 8 and 14 month mastery motivation than infants rated as less difficult. Infants who were perceived as more difficult had experienced higher levels of physical stimulation and more intrusive/insensitive caregiving during the first year. These findings show that infant mastery motivation may be influenced from an early age by both the behaviour of caregivers and by infant dispositional characteristics. Thus, there are important implications for the development of infants who, due to various disabilities, have difficulty in eliciting contingent responses from their caregivers or who, for whatever reason, may be perceived as difficult. The study focused on motivation for mastery of the inanimate environment and it is acknowledged that some infants may instead be predisposed or channelled towards mastery in the social environment. Further research is required to identi& individual differences in mastery orientation and to determine the longer term motivational consequences of early infant experiences.
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Gantley, Madeleine. "Cultural constructions of infancy : an anthropological study of infant care in Cardiff." Thesis, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (University of London), 1994. http://researchonline.lshtm.ac.uk/682273/.
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This thesis is about infancy, independence, and how medicalisation shapes mothers' perceptions of their infants. It draws on ethnographic research in Cardiff, undertaken during a period of heightened concern about the Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), and funded by the Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths. Three "cultural constructions" of infancy are juxtaposed: the vulnerable and constantly accompanied Bangladeshi infant, the Welsh or English infant encouraged towards independence, and the autonomous infant of epidemiological analysis. The thesis shows how the processes of medicalisation brought contrasting perceptions of infancy to light, suggesting that Bangladeshi women taking part in an "English for Pregnancy" project were not only learning language, but also learning about medicalised infant care. It argues too that health professionals shape the way in which mothers perceive their infants through the introduction of the language of "risk factors". The infant body itself emerged at the boundary of powerful systems of meaning. If the boundaries of the Bangladeshi infant body were blurred through constant contact, those of the Welsh or English infant were marked intermittently through alternating periods of solitude with "attention". Some Welsh and English mothers spoke of infants and their care in terms of the care of domestic animals, and the mothers' own ambivalence about their own animality, while some Bangladeshi mothers spoke of the spiritual power and vulnerability of infants, and in doing so articulated their links with Bangladesh. For health professionals the infant body was a site for demonstrating expertise through both research (which constructed ethnic minorities as 'natural') and recommendations for action. The thesis discusses the location of contemporary anthropology at cultural boundaries. Juxtaposing contrasting beliefs about infancy revealed very different perceptions of independence, marked in particular by contrasting perceptions of time, space, and the infant body itself.
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O'Callaghan, Christopher. "Aerosolised drug therapy in infancy." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 1991. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.305089.
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Parkinson, Kathryn N. "Feeding behaviour in late infancy." Thesis, Durham University, 1998. http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/1055/.
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Davies, Peter S. W. "Total energy expenditure in infancy." Thesis, Loughborough University, 1991. https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/2134/32808.
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This thesis is concerned primarily with the measurement of total energy expenditure in infancy. Until the advent and subsequent development of the doubly labelled water technique for the assessment of carbon dioxide production rate in "free-living" individuals measurements of total energy expenditure in infants and children were virtually impossible. Thus measurements of total energy expenditure using this relatively new technique are of burgeoning interest to nutritionists, clinicians and human biologists.
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Ilari, Beatriz Senoi. "Music cognition in infancy : infants' preferences and long-term memory for complex music." Thesis, McGill University, 2002. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=38490.
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The purpose of this study was to investigate infants' preferences and long-term memory for two contrasting complex pieces of music, that is, Prelude and Forlane from Le Tombeau de Couperin by Maurice Ravel (1875--1937). Seventy 8.5-month-old infants were randomly assigned to one of four experiments conducted on the Headturn Preference Procedure. The first experiment examined infants' preferences for Prelude and Forlane in piano timbre. The second experiment assessed infants' preferences for Prelude and Forlane in orchestra timbre. Infants' preferences for the Forlane in piano and orchestra timbres were investigated in the third experiment. The last experiment aimed at infants' long-term memory for complex music. Thirty infants were exposed to either the Prelude or the Forlane three times a day for ten consecutive days. Two weeks following the exposure, infants were tested on the HPP. It was predicted that these infants would prefer to listen to the familiar piece from the exposure over the unfamiliar one. Results suggested that 8.5-month-olds could tell apart two complex pieces of music in orchestra timbre and could discriminate between the piano and the orchestra timbres. Contrary to the belief that infants are ill equipped to process complex music, this study found that infants could encode and remember complex pieces of music for at least two weeks.Because infants rely on their caretakers to provide musical experiences for them, maternal beliefs and uses of music were also investigated. Mothers of participating infants were interviewed on musical background, listening preferences and musical behaviors and beliefs with their infants. The analysis of interview data yielded the following main results: (1) Singing was the primary musical activity of mothers and babies; (2) Maternal occupation and previous musical experiences affected their musical behaviors with their babies; (3) Most mothers held the belief that there is appropriate music for babies to listen to although there was no consensus as to what is appropriate music. Such beliefs reflect a conflict between maternal beliefs regarding infants' music cognition and the actual music-related perceptual and cognitive abilities of infants. Attempting to attenuate this conflict, suggestions for music educators, parents and researchers were proposed.
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Rowe, Jennifer. "Organising bodies : a study of feeding and sleep in infancy /." [St. Lucia, Qld.], 2000. http://www.library.uq.edu.au/iad/absthe15803.pdf.
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Warstedt, Kristina. "Polyunsaturated fatty acids, maternal and infant immune responses and allergic disease in infancy." Doctoral thesis, Linköpings universitet, Pediatrik, 2010. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-56265.
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Background: The incidence of allergic diseases in industrialized countries has increased, and a relation between allergy and dietary fatty acids has been proposed. Modulation of the maternal immune function during pregnancy may have an impact on future clinical outcome in the child. Aim: The aim of this thesis was to add knowledge on the relationship between long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids, sensitization and allergic disease and possible immunological events regulating this. Subjects: The thesis is based on results obtained from two cohorts. The first, including 300 cord blood samples collected from 1985-2005. The second, a double-blind placebo controlled multi-centre study comprising 145 families with allergic disease. Methods: Phospholipid fatty acids and total IgE antibodies were analyzed in cord blood samples with gas chromatography and Uni-CAP™, respectively. The families participating in the double-blind placebo controlled multi-centre study were recruited at antenatal units in Linköping and Jönköping and the mothers were supplemented with 2.6 g ω-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPUFA) or placebo daily from gestational week 25 until 3 months of breast feeding. Phospholipid fatty acids in maternal serum were analysed before and during the intervention to assess compliance. Prostaglandin E2, leukotrienes B4 and cytokines were analyzed with ELISA technique in supernatants from maternal LPS-stimulated whole blood cultures. Clinical outcome was allergic disease with positive skin prick test and/or specific circulating IgE to food allergens at one year of age. Cytokines, chemokines, SIgA antibodies and prostaglandin E2 were analyzed in breast milk with Luminex and ELISA techniques. Results: The proportions of cord serum linoleic acid (LA, C18:2 ω-6) and α-linolenic acid (LNA, C18:3 ω-3) decreased significantly from 1985 to 2005. However, the LA/LNA ratio did increase, revealing a relatively larger decrease in LNA than in LA. The proportions of both arachidonic acid (AA; C20:4 ω-6) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, C22:6 ω-3) as well as other ω-6 and ω-3 fatty acids increased significantly during the same time period. No correlations were found between ω-6 and ω-3 fatty acids and total IgE antibodies. Proportions of ω-3 LCPUFA increased in the ω-3 supplemented group of mothers. Lipopolysaccharide-induced prostaglandin E2 secretion in whole blood culture decreased in a majority of ω-3 PUFA supplemented mothers (18 of 28, p < 0.002).The decreased prostaglandin E2 production was more pronounced among non-atopic than atopic mothers. Lipopolysaccharide induced cytokine and chemokine secretion was not affected. The period prevalence of food allergy was lower in the ω-3 group (1⁄52, 2%) compared to the placebo group (10⁄65, 15%, p <0.05) as well as the incidence of IgE-associated eczema (ω-3 group: 4 ⁄ 52, 8%; placebo group: 15 ⁄ 63, 24%, p < 0.05) at one of year. There were no differences in breast milk cytokine, SIgA and PGE2 levels between the two intervention groups. However, the levels of several cytokines tended to be higher in colostrum from non-atopic ω-3 supplemented mothers as compared to non-atopic placebo supplemented mothers. Higher levels of TGFß2 and SIgA in 3 months milk were associated with allergic disease at one year of age both with and without detectable IgE. Conclusions: Cord blood LA proportions decreased and LA/LNA ratio increased over the 20 year period between 1985 and 2005 this was not related to total IgE. ω-3 fatty acid supplementation of pregnant and lactating mothers resulted in a lower period prevalence of IgE associated eczema and food allergy in the children at one year of age. This was most pronounced in children of non-allergic mothers. The underlying mechanism requires further clarification.
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McKechnie, James. "Problem solving in infancy : a study of infants performance on tasks of spatial manipulation." Thesis, University of Stirling, 1987. http://hdl.handle.net/1893/22869.
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Children, 12 to 24 months of age, were presented with three tasks: two detour problems and a spatial task. The aim of the study was to assess the performance on each task and to consider the relationship between performance on the two detour problems and the relationship between spatial knowledge and detour ability. The two detour tasks (the lever task and the bent wire task) shared a common feature in that the object rather than the subject had to be moved in the detour. The results of the lever task indicated that age, experimental group (three lever designs were used) and the sex of subjects were influential variables. Analysis of the bent-wire data showed that as hypothesised age was the most important variable, accounting for qualitative and quantitative differences in performance. The results from the detour tasks were discussed with reference to the attainment of skilled behaviour and the relationship between cognitive development and detour ability. Spatial task results indicated that performance was related to age and that the type of error recorded was also related to the age of the subject. The hypothesised relationship between the two detour tasks was not supported by the data. Furthermore, the anticipated relationship between detour ability and spatial knowledge failed to emerge. These results were discussed in relation to the issue of developmental synchrony and the structuralist's view of development.
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Bishay, M. "Understanding complications of surgery in infancy." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 2017. http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1575528/.
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This thesis investigates complications of surgery in infants, particularly infections and liver disease in infants receiving parenteral nutrition (PN) following gastrointestinal surgery, and intraoperative hypercapnia and acidosis in surgery for congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) and oesophageal atresia with tracheo-oesophageal fistula (OA/TOF), using a series of clinical studies. A pilot randomised controlled trial comparing open versus thoracoscopic surgery in neonates with CDH and OA/TOF showed that neonatal thoracoscopy resulted in more severe intraoperative hypercapnia and acidosis than open surgery, particularly in patients with CDH. This highlights a need for studies assessing neurodevelopmental outcomes following neonatal thoracoscopy. In surgical infants receiving PN, chlorhexidine antisepsis to clean central venous catheter connectors was associated with a significant reduction in the rate of septicaemia (particularly staphylococcal). In such infants, septicaemia due to bowel organisms occurred later than septicaemia due to coagulase-negative staphylococci. In congenital duodenal obstruction, while avoidance of initial PN was successful for two thirds of cases in which it was attempted, one third subsequently required PN, and this group showed poorer growth than children who commenced PN soon after surgery. One third of surgical infants with intestinal failure develop intestinal failure associated liver disease (IFALD), and 61% developed septicaemia. I found no association between septicaemia and IFALD. In a randomised controlled trial to investigate whether glutamine supplementation affects the incidence of microbial invasion in surgical infants receiving PN, microbial invasion was detected by blood cultures, broad-range and targeted PCR for bacterial DNA, and assays of endotoxin, and lipopolysaccharide binding protein. Monocyte HLA-DR expression was measured by flow cytometry. Glutamine had no effect on microbial invasion, which was detected in 60% of patients (half of which was detected by blood culture). Glutamine supplementation significantly enhanced recovery of monocyte function. Among patients with low monocyte function at enrolment, glutamine was protective against microbial invasion.
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White, Hannah B. "Categorical Perception of Species in Infancy." UKnowledge, 2016. http://uknowledge.uky.edu/psychology_etds/90.
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Although there is a wealth of knowledge on categorization in infancy, there are still many unanswered questions about the nature of category representation in infancy. For example, it is yet unclear whether categories in infancy have well-defined boundaries or what knowledge about species categories young infants have before entering the lab. Using a morphing technique, we linearly altered the proportion of cat versus dog in images and observed how infants reacted to contrasts between pairs of images that either did or did not cross over the categorical boundary. This was done while equating between-category and within-category similarity. Results indicate that infants’ pre-existing categories of cats and dogs are discrete and mutually exclusive. Experiment 2 found that inversion caused a disruption in processing by 6.5- but not 3.5- month-old infants, indicating a developmental change in category representation. These findings demonstrate a propensity to dichotomize early in life that could have implications for social categorizations, such as race and gender. Furthermore, this work extends previous knowledge of infant categorical perception by demonstrating a priori knowledge of familiar species categories and the boundaries between them.
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Jubran, Rachel. "Body Part Structure Knowledge in Infancy." UKnowledge, 2016. http://uknowledge.uky.edu/psychology_etds/98.
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Human faces, bodies, and hands convey critical social information (e.g., emotions, goals, and desires). Infants, like adults, are sensitive to such social information. Unlike infants’ knowledge of the structure of the human face and body, not much is known about infants’ knowledge of hands and feet. The current study tested infants for their preference between intact hand images and ones in which the same hands were distorted (i.e., location of at least one finger was altered to distort the typical structure of the hand). Infants at 3.5 months of age had a preference for the reorganized hand image, demonstrating that 3.5-month-olds have sufficient knowledge of the configural properties of hands to discriminate between intact versus distorted images. Furthermore, when the same images were inverted, infants displayed no such preference, indicating that infants were not relying solely on low-level features to detect differences between intact versus reorganized hands. Contrastingly, when shown images of intact and reorganized feet, even 9-month-olds did not exhibit evidence of sensitivity to structural disruptions in images of feet. These results indicate that infants’ structural knowledge of hands, but not necessarily feet, develops along the same trajectory as their knowledge of faces and bodies.
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Mehr, Samuel A. "Social Functions of Music in Infancy." Thesis, Harvard University, 2017. http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:33052842.
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I explore music's early role in social cognition, testing the hypothesis that infants interpret singing as a social signal. Over six experiments, I examine 5- and 11-month-old infants' social responses to new people who sing familiar or unfamiliar songs to them. I manipulate song familiarity with three training methods: infants learn songs from a parent; from a musical toy; or from an unfamiliar adult who sings first in person and subsequently via video chat. I use two main outcome measures: a test of visual preference for the singer of a familiar song; and, in older infants, a more explicitly social test of selective reaching for objects associated with and endorsed by novel individuals. I also test infants' memory for the songs they hear in these studies. I find that infants garner social information from the songs they hear, which they subsequently act upon in the context of social interaction; when songs are not learned in a social context, infants recall them in great detail after long delays. These results demonstrate a social function of music in early development. Music is not just pleasurable noise: it is a member of a class of behaviors, including language, accent, and food preference, that reliably inform infants' social behavior.
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Shah, Janaki H. "Molecular Aetiologies of Hyperinsulinism of Infancy." Thesis, Griffith University, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10072/367003.
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Hyperinsulinism of infancy (HI) is a metabolic syndrome of unregulated insulin
secretion that causes mild to severe hypoglycaemia. HI is the most common cause of
persistent hyperinsulinism in infancy, that has an prevalence of 1 in 50,000 live births in
non-consanguineous human populations. Patients usually present in the first 72 hours of
life with symptoms of hypoglycaemia, ranging from generalized tremors and vomiting to
loss of consciousness and seizures. Failure to recognise and treat the hypoglycaemia
carries a substantial risk of permanent brain damage and permanent neurological
impairment is seen in up to 50% of all HI cases. Treatment initially employs increased
carbohydrate intake as well as glucagon and glucose infusions. Drugs used to control
insulin release include octreotide, somatostatin and the potassium channel agonist
diazoxide. Patients who fail to respond to medical treatment may need a partial or
subtotal pancreatectomy, with a resultant risk of iatrogenic diabetes.
HI is often associated with architectural abnormalities of the pancreas - either
focal adenomatous lesions or diffuse beta cell hyperplasia are commonly observed upon
histological examination of affected pancreta. A variation in the architectural
abnormalities that involves both focal and diffuse cell lesions n the same patient is
believed to exist in two HI patients in the Australian cohort.
Causes of this multigenic congenital syndrome are most commonly linked to
genes encoding the ATP sensitive potassium channels of the beta cell (ABCC8 and
KCNJ11), as well as to genes involved in nutrient metabolism within the beta cell
(GLUD1, GCK and HADH).
In this study, a retrospective genetic analysis of Australian HI patients was
undertaken. The patients were segregated based on the treatment required (medical or
surgical). Leukocyte derived DNA from the patients was genotyped by direct sequencing
of coding and/or regulatory regions of ABCC8, KCNJ11, GLUD1, GCK and HADH.
Immunohistochemical staining of preserved pancreatic sections from patients for the
tumour suppressor gene – p57 was undertaken to further investigate the novel “focaldiffuse”
architecture of the pancreas. Additionally, the possible impact of a silent
KCNJ11 SNP, A190A was investigated by in vitro expression studies to demonstrate
possible effects of synonymous gene variants on translation-related pathological
mechanisms.Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
School of Biomolecular and Physical Sciences
Science, Environment, Engineering and Technology
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Foterek, Kristina [Verfasser]. "Complementary feeding practice during infancy and its relevance for dietary behaviour in infancy and childhood / Kristina Foterek." Bonn : Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Bonn, 2016. http://d-nb.info/1107541891/34.
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Bates, Linda Rachel. "Christ's birth and infancy in Middle English." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2011. https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/252220.
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Greuel, Alison Jeanne. "Sensorimotor influences on speech perception in infancy." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/50782.
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The multisensory nature of speech, and in particular, the modulatory influence of one’s own articulators during speech processing, is well established in adults. However, the origins of the sensorimotor influence on auditory speech perception are largely unknown, and require the examination of a population in which a link between speech perception and speech production is not well-defined; by studying preverbal infant speech perception, such early links can be characterized. Across three experimental chapters, I provide evidence that articulatory information selectively affects the perception of speech sounds in preverbal infants, using both neuroimaging and behavioral measures. In Chapter 2, I use a looking time procedure to show that in 6-month-old infants, articulatory information can impede the perception of a consonant contrast when the related articulator is selectively impaired. In Chapter 3, I use the high-amplitude suck (HAS) procedure to show that neonates are able to discriminate and exhibit memory for the vowels /u/ and /i/; however, the information from the infants’ articulators (a rounded lip shape) seems to only marginally affect behavior during the learning of these vowel sounds. In Chapter 4, I co-register HAS with a neuroimaging technique – Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) – and identify underlying neural networks in newborn infants that are sensitive to the sensorimotor-auditory match, in that the vowel which matches the lip shape (/u/) is processed differently than the vowel that is not related to the lip shape (/i/). Together, the experiments reported in this dissertation suggest that even before infants gain control over their articulators and speak their first words, their sensorimotor systems are interacting with their perceptual systems as they process auditory speech information.Arts, Faculty of
Psychology, Department of
Graduate
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Danielson, Donald Kyle. "Visual influences on speech perception in infancy." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/58980.
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The perception of speech involves the integration of both heard and seen signals. Increasing evidence indicates that even young infants are sensitive to the correspondence between these sensory signals, and adding visual information to the auditory speech signal can change infants’ perception. Nonetheless, important questions remain regarding the nature of and limits to early audiovisual speech perception. In the first set of experiments in this thesis, I use a novel eyetracking method to investigate whether English-learning six-, nine-, and 11-month-olds detect content correspondence in auditory and visual information when perceiving non-native speech. Six- and nine-month-olds, prior to and in the midst of perceptual attunement, switch their face-scanning patterns in response to incongruent speech, evidence that infants at these ages detect audiovisual incongruence even in non-native speech. I then probe whether this familiarization, to congruent or incongruent speech, affects infants’ perception such that auditory-only phonetic discrimination of the non-native sounds is changed. I find that familiarization to incongruent speech changes—but does not entirely disrupt—six-month-olds’ auditory discrimination. Nine- and 11-month-olds, in the midst and at the end of perceptual attunement, do not discriminate the non-native sounds regardless of familiarization condition. In the second set of experiments, I test how temporal information and phonetic content information may both contribute to an infant’s use of auditory and visual information in the perception of speech. I familiarize six-month-olds to audiovisual Hindi speech sounds in which the auditory and visual signals of the speech are incongruent in content and, in two conditions, are also temporally asynchronous. I hypothesize that, when presented with temporally synchronous, incongruent stimuli, infants rely on either the auditory or the visual information in the signal and use that information to categorize the speech event. Further, I predict that the addition of a temporal offset to this incongruent speech changes infants’ use of the auditory and visual information. Although the main results of this latter study are inconclusive, post-hoc analyses suggest that when visual information is presented first or synchronously with auditory information, as is the case in the environment, infants exhibit a moderate matching preference for auditory information at test.Arts, Faculty of
Psychology, Department of
Graduate
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Ross, Kirsty Mhairi. "Joyful expressions in infancy : cross-species comparisons." Thesis, University of Portsmouth, 2010. https://researchportal.port.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/joyful-expressions-in-infancy(abf8bc2b-2cfd-469c-ac84-251c7c1fd1d4).html.
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Joyful expressions of one-year-old infants were studied in naturalistic contexts in infants’ home environments. Chimpanzee infants (n = 7) and human infants from the Cameroon Nso community (n = 8) were studied in their own right and in comparison. Similar methodologies and the development of a single coding scheme allowed direct comparisons between the groups. The research aims to contribute to knowledge about 1) emotion socialisation; 2) the whole-body expression of emotions in infancy; 3) the evolutionary heritage of emotions; and 4) the functions of joyful emotions. Playful behaviours were analysed for play type, infant joy (facial, motor, and vocal1), play partners and their engagement, and matching of infant joy by play partners. The first study (Chapter 4) describes the play contexts of chimpanzee infants from two settings (Chester Zoo, UK, and Primate Research Institute (PRI), Japan), as there was little published quantitative data specific to one-year-old chimpanzees. Play contexts were similar across settings though the proportion of time spent in the different types of social play varied with more rough-and-tumble play at Chester Zoo (larger group, juveniles present) and more tickling by mothers at PRI. The second study (Chapter 5) describes the joyful expressions of chimpanzee infants. Facial and motor joy occurred at similar rates overall though the rate of facial joy was skewed towards social contact and tickling play to a greater degree than motor joy. Mothers elicited a particularly high rate of infant joy (often during tickling) but peers matched a greater proportion of infant joy (often during contact play). The third study (Chapter 6) describes the joyful. Vocal joy was analysed for human sample only expressions of human infants. Facial, motor, and vocal joy occurred at similar rates overall though rates of facial joy and vocal joy were skewed towards social communicative and rhythmic play to a greater degree than was motor joy. Play partners matched a greater proportion of infant joy during social communicative and rhythmic play and social object exchange than during other types of social play. The fourth study (Chapter 7) compares the joyful expressions of chimpanzee infants and human infants. The rate of facial joy was equivalent in both groups despite differences in the contexts of play, underlining the importance of joy to infant development in both species. Differences were evident in the rate of motor joy (higher in the human sample) and in matching of infant joy (marginally higher in the human sample, variation by play partners). The general discussion highlights key findings in relation to the socialisation of joy (e.g. the high rates of joy during play contexts which support social cohesion, the different roles of mothers and peers/older children in eliciting and responding to infant joy) and the whole body expression of joy (the distinctive patterns of facial, motor and vocal joy across social and solitary play contexts). Findings are discussed in relation to theories about the functions of joy.
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Penders, Johnny. "Gut microbiota and atopic manifestations in infancy." Maastricht : Maastricht : Universiteit Maastricht ; University Library, Universiteit Maastricht [host], 2007. http://arno.unimaas.nl/show.cgi?fid=9167.
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Harrington, Tracey Ann Marie. "Adipose tissue content and distribution in infancy." Thesis, Imperial College London, 2004. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.407972.
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Fowler, Nia. "Emotion matching and emotion regulation in infancy." Thesis, Cardiff University, 2011. http://orca.cf.ac.uk/9452/.
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As part of the longitudinal study First Steps, this thesis attempts to elaborate on our understanding of the development of emotion matching and emotion regulation in infancy. Emotion matching can be defined as the ability to accurately copy the same facial configuration of another with, or without, experiencing the associated internal emotional state. Using a peek-a-boo emotion elicitation paradigm, this thesis explores the age at which infants first match emotional expressions, and whether this ability is affected by valence of matched expressions, or infant age. Additional analysis explores whether emotion matching is related to other forms of early matching behaviour. Emotion regulation can be defined as the ability to modify affective experience. This thesis outlines an experimental procedure for assessing whether infants use spontaneous blinking and gaze aversion to self-regulate the intensity of emotional experience. Potential relationships between emotion regulation and temperament, as well as other forms of regulatory behaviour, are also explored. In addition, links between emotion regulation and emotion matching are investigated. Results demonstrated that from 3-months-old infants are able to match both happy and sad emotional expressions, but that emotion matching ability selectively declines with age. Furthermore, emotion matching was found not to be related to other forms of early matching behaviour. Results also identified spontaneous blinking and gaze aversion as self-regulation strategies utilised in early infancy. In addition, a relationship was identified between regulation ability and higher scores of temperament shyness. However, emotion regulation was found not to be linked to other forms of regulatory behaviour. Finally, a potential relationship was identified between emotion regulation ability early in infancy and infant ability to match happy expression later in life. These results are considered in relation to previous literature, examining the processes and theories behind emotion matching and emotion regulation.
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Oberst, Leah. "Facial and Body Emotion Recognition in Infancy." UKnowledge, 2014. http://uknowledge.uky.edu/psychology_etds/48.
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Adults are experts at assessing emotions, an ability essential for appropriate social interaction. The present study, investigated this ability’s development, examining infants’ matching of facial and body emotional information.
In Experiment 1, 18 6.5-month-olds were familiarized to angry or happy bodies or faces. Those familiarized to bodies were tested with familiar and novel emotional faces. Those habituated to faces were tested with bodies. The 6.5-month-old infants exhibited a preference for the familiar emotion, matching between faces and bodies.
In Experiment 2, 18 6.5-month-olds were tested with faces and bodies displaying anger and sadness. Infants familiarized to faces showed a familiarity preference; Infants familiarized to bodies failed to discriminate. Thus, infants generalized from faces to bodies, but failed in the reverse. A follow-up study increased the duration of familiarization: 12 additional 6.5-month-olds were exposed to two-30s familiarizations with bodies, and tested with faces. Additional exposure induced matching of emotions.
In Experiment 3, 18 3.5-month-olds were tested using Experiment 1’s stimuli and methodology. The 3.5-month-old infants did not discriminate during test trials.
These results suggest 6.5-month-old infants are capable of matching angry, sad and happy faces and bodies. However, 3.5-month-olds are not, suggesting a developmental change between 3.5- and 6.5-months.
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Molkenboer, Anne-Sophie E. "Behaviour and weight gain in early infancy." Thesis, Durham University, 2000. http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/4473/.
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Slow weight gain in infancy is the core sign of failure to thrive. However, it is far from clear what the cause of the slow weight gain in infancy is. Failure to thrive is mostly identified late in the first year at which time it becomes problematic to ascertain its causes retrospectively. The current study was designed to investigate weight gain and behaviour in the early weeks of infancy in a prospective study. Seventy-five eight-week old infants were recruited according to their weight gain from birth to eight weeks, and classified as having slow, average or fast weight gain. Infants and their mothers were observed during two feeds. Mother-infant interaction and sucking behaviour were assessed. In addition, mothers completed questionnaires on the infant's temperament and behaviour (such as sleeping and crying), and on their own eating behaviour and adaptation to motherhood. All infants were followed up at six months and weighed again. The follow-up weight at six months allowed the identification of infants with failure to thrive as traditionally clinically defined. Six infants were identified as failing to thrive at six months, all of which had slow weight gain from birth to eight weeks. The behaviours measured through observation and the questionnaires were investigated in relation to weight gain from birth to eight weeks and six months. No significant relationship was found between weight gain and maternal adaptation, the mother's eating behaviour or infant behaviour. One sucking behaviour parameter estimate, pause length, end, was found to be significantly related to weight gain to eight weeks. This result however, was entirely attributable to the estimates of one infant. This infant had particularly poor sucking behaviour and very slow weight gain from birth to eight weeks. Infant temperament, and in particular the infant's level of fear was related to weight gain from birth to eight weeks. Infants with higher levels of fear were more likely to have slow weight gain. The length of the feed, from which the sucking behaviour was observed, was related to weight gain, with infants with long feeds being more likely to have slow weight gain.
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Han, Bing. "Islet pathobiology in congenital hyperinsulinism in infancy." Thesis, University of Manchester, 2017. https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/islet-pathobiology-in-congenital-hyperinsulinism-in-infancy(ef974af7-c553-4e89-b648-a6d690555d03).html.
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Congenital Hyperinsulinism of Infancy (CHI) is a potentially lethal condition caused by excessive, unregulated insulin release from pancreatic β-cells. It is a complex clinical condition and the current understanding of this disease is still not completed. In this thesis, we investigated the disease islet pathobiology from 4 main perspectives; Using nucleomegaly as a novel diagnostic marker; Identifying the mosaic of immature delta-cells in atypical CHI (CHI-A); Assessing the insulin secretory profile at the ultrastructural level; Investigating endocrine cell turnover and the driving force/mechanism behind it. By quantifying the enlarged nuclei in the endocrine pancreas of patients with CHI, we discovered that the increased incidence of nucleomegaly is pathognomic for diffuse CHI (CHI-D). This finding potentially set a novel diagnostic hallmark for intraoperative diagnoses. A characteristic of CHI-A is a combination of active and quiescent islets. The maintained expression of NKX2.2 in somatostatin positive cells suggests an immature delta-cells phenotype in quiescent islets and this is potentially contributing to the pathobiology of CHI-A. By examining the insulin secretory profile at the ultrastructural level, as well as investigating the crucial exocytosis-related genes from both RNA and protein levels, our data suggested a greater secretory capacity in β-cells from focal CHI lesion compared to CHI-D. Despite seeing a maintained potential for proliferative (Ki67) in CHI samples, there was no significant increase in apoptosis rates (cleaved caspase-3) and whole cell mass compared to control samples. Alterations in the cellular localisation of cell cycle regulators are a plausible explanation for these abnormal disease dynamics. These data expanded our knowledge on understanding CHI, and provided us new clues for the phenotypical alterations and pathobiological mechanisms in patients with this disease. Meanwhile, they also provided new insights in the future management of CHI.
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Tibu, Florin Liviu. "Prenatal stress and vagal tone in infancy." Thesis, University of Manchester, 2010. https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/prenatal-stress-and-vagal-tone-in-infancy(b76ef29f-38d7-4c45-86ce-2c3e02817596).html.
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Background: The fetal origins hypothesis poses that adverse intrauterine conditions predispose to cardiovascular and metabolic diseases in adulthood. Evidence is accumulating that similar mechanisms to those identified for physical disorders may also apply to psychiatric disorders. Focusing on the activity of neurophysiological systems thought to regulate emotions from very early in life may be key to understanding how maternal stress in pregnancy impacts on the developing baby with possible long-lasting consequences for behaviour and psychopathology. Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia (RSA), "vagal tone", is thought to reflect autonomic regulatory capabilities that may underpin emotion regulation. However, little is known about possible fetal origins of vagal tone. Animal studies increasingly point to sex differences in the effects of prenatal stress, and this is supported by human studies of the prenatal origins of cardiovascular functioning and psychopathology. The current investigation examines whether prenatal depression and anxiety predict vagal tone in infancy, and whether the associations are modified by infant sex. Method: Two hundred mothers and infants from a high-risk consecutive community sample were examined prospectively from the first trimester of pregnancy until 29 weeks postnatal. Maternal self-reports of stress (EPDS and STAI) were collected in pregnancy (20 and 32 weeks) and postnatally (5 weeks and 29 weeks). Vagal tone was ascertained across five procedures, the "Helper-Hinderer" social evaluation task, toy exploration and the "Still Face" paradigm (2 minutes of social engagement, followed by 2 minutes of maternal unresponsiveness and concluded by 2 minutes of social reunion). Results: Principal Component Analysis of the RSA scores yielded a one-factor solution explaining over 70% of the variance, and so mean of RSA scores was used as the index of overall vagal tone, and the difference between overall and RSA during the Still Face as the estimate of vagal withdrawal. There were no main effects of prenatal maternal depression or anxiety on vagal tone or vagal withdrawal. However, there were significant prenatal stress by sex of infant interactions. Follow-up analyses revealed that increasing maternal depression and anxiety at 20 weeks gestation were associated with decreasing vagal tone in males and increasing vagal tone in females. Vagal withdrawal in response to the still face showed similar patterns i.e. decreased in males and increased in girls with elevated maternal anxiety at 32 weeks gestation. These associations were not explained by possible confounding variables assessed in pregnancy, nor by postnatal maternal depression and anxiety. Conclusions: The findings support the fetal origins hypothesis for vagal tone and vagal withdrawal, but only in interaction with sex of the infant. Longitudinal study is required to determine conditions under which increasing vagal tone and withdrawal in girls associated with prenatal depression and anxiety, and decreasing vagal tone and withdrawal in boys, are associated with later resilience or vulnerability to psychopathology.
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Chuang, Shu-Ling. "Dietary antigens and intestinal inflammation in infancy." Thesis, Imperial College London, 2009. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.501205.
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Newland, Lisa A. "Language, Play, and Toy Sharing in Infancy." DigitalCommons@USU, 1997. https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd/2406.
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Toy sharing between 97 Infants and their mothers was used to measure shared reference, mother and infant attention-directing strategies, and maternal and infant responsiveness. The association of toy sharing with early language and symbolic play was assessed. Infants were videotaped in a 10-minute free-play session at 11 months. Videotapes were coded for frequency of toy exchanges and level of infant symbolic play. Language was assessed at both 11 and 14 months. Maternal responsiveness to infant-initiated toy exchanges was positively related to symbolic play at 11 months. Maternal responsiveness was also related to Productive, Receptive, and Total Language scores at 14 months. Symbolic play at 11 months and language at 11 and 14 months were associated, suggesting underlying cognitive abilities associated with language and play development. Results support the notion that shared reference, maternal responsiveness, and underlying infant cognitive abilities are important components of a context where scaffolding of language and symbolic play can occur.
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Jubran, Rachel Lynn. "BODY PROCESSING AND ATTENTIONAL PATTERNS IN INFANCY." UKnowledge, 2019. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/psychology_etds/162.
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Bodies provide important social information, and adults benefit from this information by recognizing and responding appropriately to bodies. Body recognition is enabled by the fact that human bodies are defined by parts, such as the limbs, torso, and head, arranged in a particular configuration. To understand the development of social cognition, it is important to analyze and document how infants come to recognize bodies. Infants are sensitive to distortions to the global configurations of bodies by 3.5 months of age, suggesting an early onset of body knowledge. It was unclear, however, whether such sensitivity indicates knowledge of the location of specific body parts or solely reflects sensitivity to the overall gestalt or outline of bodies. The current study addressed this by examining whether infants attend to specific locations in which parts of the body have been reorganized. Results of Experiments 1 and 2 show that 5-month-olds, but not 3.5-month-olds, are sensitive to the location of specific body parts, as demonstrated by a difference in allocation of attention to the body joint areas that were normal (e.g., where the arm connects to the shoulder) versus ones that were reorganized. Furthermore, to examine whether this kind of processing is driven by information from the face/head, in Experiment 3 I tested infants on images in which the face/head was removed. Infants no longer exhibited differential scanning of normal versus reorganized bodies. To further assess whether infants were responding to critical information provided by the face/head or whether their processing was disrupted solely because the headless images were incomplete bodies, Experiment 4 examined infants’ performance on body images missing limbs. Once again, infants failed to exhibit differential scanning of typical versus reorganized bodies. Together, these results suggest that 5-month-olds are sensitive to the location of body parts. However, the presence of the face/head (Experiment 3) and limbs (Experiment 4) are necessary for 5-month-olds to exhibit differential scanning of reorganized versus intact body images. Overall, by 5 months of age, infants are sensitive to precise locations of body parts, and thus demonstrate a rather sophisticated level of knowledge about the structure of the human body. The role that the face/head and limbs play in body structure knowledge development is still unclear, and future studies need to address this question.
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Andrew, Morag Jane. "Neurodevelopmental and visual outcomes of infants at risk of neurodevelopmental disability following dietary supplementation in infancy." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2016. https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:2c4a24e3-4924-4085-bad0-fb054622cb7f.
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Background: Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), choline and uridine-5-monophosphate (UMP) are important brain nutrients which form phosphatidylcholine, the most abundant brain membrane phospholipid. DHA, choline and UMP supplementation increases rodent brain phospholipids, synaptic components, functional brain connectivity and cognitive performance. This novel pilot study supplemented infants at risk of neurological impairment (ARNI) with a nutrient combination containing these neurotrophic compounds. Aims: 1) In a double blind randomised control trial (RCT), investigate if intake of a specific nutrient combination improves neurodevelopmental and visual outcome in infants ARNI. 2) Using novel measures of cortical visual function, investigate the effect of perinatal brain injury severity, gestational age at birth and sex upon visuocognitive development in infants at risk of neurodevelopmental impairment. Method: Recruitment was from UK neonatal units. Eligibility: ≤ 31 weeks, weight < 9th percentile; < 31 weeks with ≥ Grade II intraventricular haemorrhage (IVH) or preterm white matter injury (PWMI); 31-40 weeks with ≥ Grade II IVH or PWMI, ≥ Sarnat Grade II HIE or defined brain MRI abnormalities. Stratification was by sex, gestation and brain injury severity. Randomised infants received neurotrophic supplementation or placebo, for 2 years. Primary outcome was Bayley Scales of Infant Development III (BSID III) composite cognitive score (CCS) after 2 years. Secondary outcomes included BSID III composite language score (CLS) and BSID III composite motor score (CMS). Cortical visual measures were pattern reversal visual event related potential (PR-VERP) latency (transient and calculated), orientation reversal visual event related potentials (OR-VERP), and the Fixation Shift test (FS). Functional behavioural vision was assessed using the Atkinson Battery of Child Development for Examining Functional Vision (ABCDEFV). Local Ethics Committee approval was granted. Results: 62 neonates were recruited. After 2 years, mean CCS in the intervention group was 87.7 (SD 20.4) and 81.6 (SD 18.5) in the placebo group (mean difference = 2.28, p=0.13; -0.2, 18.2). Mean CLS in the intervention group was 91.5 (SD 20.1) and 83.2 (SD 19.6) in the placebo group (mean difference = 2.74, p=0.1; -2.4, 18.3). CMS was similar in both groups. In relation to trial visual outcome measures, more infants in the placebo group gave a statistically significant OR-VERP response than in the intervention group (p=0.03). There were no statistically significant differences between the placebo and intervention on any other trial visual outcome measure. Cohort analyses indicate that transient PR-VERP latency is prolonged in children at risk of neurodevelopmental disability compared to typically developing infants (mean difference = -23.3, p=0.015, 95% CI -42.10 - -4.54). Calculated PR-VERP latency is prolonged to an even greater extent in children at risk of neurodevelopmental disability compared to typically developing infants (mean difference -148.6, p=0.000, 95% CI -179.7- -117.43), and remains prolonged across the age range tested. Conclusions: 1) The difference in CCS and CLS between intervention and placebo groups represents a clinically significant effect size. Use of neurotrophic micronutrient supplementation in infants ARNI warrants exploration in a large multicentre RCT. 2) Calculated PR-VERP latency may be a more appropriate outcome measure of cortical visual function than transient PR-VERP latency in infants at risk of neurodevelopmental disability.
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Xu, Nan. "Tones and vowels in Cantonese infant directed speech : hyperarticulation during the first 12 months of infancy." Thesis, View thesis, 2008. http://handle.uws.edu.au:8081/1959.7/37423.
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In speech, vowels and consonants are two the basic sounds that combined result in lexically meaningful items in all languages. In tone languages, changes in pitch, tone differences also make meaningful lexical distinctions in spoken words. Young infants appear to have no trouble perceiving speech sounds and their production of sounds peculiar to their particular language environment proceeds relatively smoothly and rapidly compared with adults’ acquisition of foreign languages. One way of looking at how infants come to acquire speech sounds of their first language is by examining the speech input they receive. The term infant-directed speech (IDS) has been coined to describe the special way adults and even older children speak to infants. IDS is different to adult-directed speech in various acoustic/phonetic modifications, such as exaggerated prosody, increased pitch and vowel hyperarticulation (Burnham, Kitamura, and Vollmer-Conna, 2002; Kuhl et al., 1997). The exaggerated prosody and increased pitch appear to be related to the expression of affect and gaining infants’ attention (Burnham, Kitamura, and Vollmer-Conna, 2002), whereas vowel hyperarticulation appears to be related to infants’ speech development for a number of reasons. Firstly, investigating how adults speak to foreigners, Uther, Knoll, and Burnham (2007) found that vowels are also hyperarticulated in foreigner-directed speech as in IDS, while other acoustic modifications such as exaggerated prosody and increased pitch, related to affective and attentional factors, are not present in foreigner directed speech. Secondly, Liu, Kuhl, and Tsao (2003) found a positive correlation between vowel hyperarticulation and infants’ native speech perception; mothers who hyperarticulated their vowels more had infants who were better able to discriminate native consonant contrasts.\ While vowel hyperarticulation in IDS to 6-month-olds has been investigated in both tone languages such as Mandarin (Liu et al., 2003), and non-tone languages such as Russian, Swedish, American English (Kuhl et al., 1997) and Australian English (Burnham et al, 2002), no parallel studies have been conducted on the possibility of tone hyperarticulation in tone language IDS. If vowel hyperarticulation is related to infants’ language development then tones in tone hyperarticulated. The possibility of tone as well as vowel hyperarticulation in IDS of the tone language Cantonese, and the development of hyperarticulation across the first
12 months of infancy were investigated here using a longitudinal sequential cohort design. Two groups of native Cantonese mothers were recorded speaking to their infants, the first group at 3, 6, and 9 months, and the second at 6, 9, and 12 months. The study had four main aims (1) to investigate whether tone hyperarticulation occurs in IDS in a tone language Cantonese (2) to investigate whether vowel hyperarticulation occurs in IDS in Cantonese (IDS in this languages had not yet been investigated) and if 1 and 2 are the cases (3) to compare tone and vowel hyperarticulation, and (4) to chart the development of tone and vowel hyperarticulation across the infant’s first 12 months. Contrary to previous findings of vowel hyperarticulation in English Russian, Swedish, and Mandarin IDS to 6-month-olds (Burnham et al., 2002; Kuhl et al., 1997); vowel hyperarticulation was not found for Cantonese IDS. More detailed acoustic analysis examining different dimensions of the vowel space suggest that after the infant is 3 months old, mothers’ vowels begin to be hypoarticulated in IDS compared to ADS on dimensions of back versus front, and high versus low. This pattern of results is consistent with vowel perception studies which suggest that infants have already tuned into the native vowel categories by 4 to 6 months (Polka and Werker, 1994). Tone hyperarticulation, on the other hand, was indeed present at 3 months and increased to peak at 6 to 9 months before declining at 12 months. This pattern of tone hyperarticulation across the first year of infancy is consistent with infant language development – in which attenuation of perception of non-native tones had been found between 6 to 9 months (Mattock and Burnham, 2006). Moreover, detailed phonetic analysis revealed that while the level tones are more hyperarticulated than the contour tones, tones with similar onsets and offsets (i.e., the two rising tones) are actually hypoarticulated in IDS at 9 and 12 months, a time when infants have already tuned into native tones. Finally, results from a preliminary native speech discrimination study using the same infants provide some initial indication that mothers who hyperarticulate tones more also had infants who are better able to discriminate native Cantonese consonants. Together these results suggest that in Cantonese IDS vowels are underspecified whereas tones are consistently over-specified particularly at 6 months when infants are tuning into native tones. Moreover, during this initial period of tone acquisition, only level tones are over specified while tones with similar onsets and offsets are underspecified. It seems likely that for Cantonese language environment infants, during the early stages of language acquisition, pitch information specified by level tones is sufficient for initial acquisition of information about the Cantonese tone space and that information about vowels is not so essential at this time. These studies show that there is indeed tone hyperarticulation in IDS in tone languages, and that in order to make sense of the vowel hyperarticulation data in tone languages, it is important to investigate both vowels and tones in tone languages with complex tone systems such as Cantonese, instead of simply applying Anglocentric notions of vowel hypoarticulation.
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Xu, Nan. "Tones and vowels in Cantonese infant directed speech hyperarticulation during the first 12 months of infancy /." View thesis, 2008. http://handle.uws.edu.au:8081/1959.7/37423.
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Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Western Sydney, 2008.A thesis submitted to the University of Western Sydney, College of Arts, MARCS Auditory Laboratories, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Includes bibliographical references.
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Bailes, Lauren Grace. "Longitudinal Predictors of Parental Sensitivity: The Role of Parent Personality and Infant Temperament Across Early Infancy." TopSCHOLAR®, 2017. https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses/2023.
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Parents play a critical role in their infants’ social and emotional development (Zeifman, 2003). High parental sensitivity contributes to greater infant attachment security (De Wolff & van IJzendoorn, 1997), as well as better compliance later in life (van Berkel et al., 2015). Personality influences how parents respond to their infants, such that parents higher in neuroticism are more controlling and less stimulating (Clark, Kochanska, & Ready, 2000), and less responsive (Kochanska, Friesenborg, Lange, & Martel, 2004). However, previous studies have found mixed results with parent extraversion. Some studies found that high parental extraversion could lead to more parent responsiveness (Clark et al., 2000), whereas others have found that these parents are more controlling (Metsepelto & Pulkkinen, 2002). The three components of infant temperament (negative reactivity, orienting, and surgency) have been found to differentially predict parenting (Bridgett et al., 2009; Rothbart & Bates, 2006; Planalp, Braungart-Rieker, Lickenbrock, & Zentall, 2013). In addition, the majority of the research examining predictors of parental sensitivity has involved predominantly mother-infant dyads; father-infant dyads are examined less often. The current study aimed to longitudinally examine how parent personality and infant temperament contribute to parental sensitivity over time in 4 (n = 49), 6 (n = 41), and 8 month old (n = 35) infants in both mothers and fathers. Parent personality and infant temperament were assessed via questionnaires filled out by each parent. Parental sensitivity was observationally coded during a dyadic, parent-infant face-to-face play task. Regression analyses revealed differential predictors of parental sensitivity for mothers and fathers and showed partial support for the goodness of fit perspective between the parent’s personality and infant’s temperament.
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Lindahl, Lisbeth B. "Gender and age related developmental processes during infancy." Göteborg, 1998. http://bvbr.bib-bvb.de:8991/F?func=service&doc_library=BVB01&doc_number=008620427&line_number=0001&func_code=DB_RECORDS&service_type=MEDIA.
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Byers-Heinlein, Krista. "Bilingualism in infancy : a window on language acquisition." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/23504.
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To rise to the challenge of acquiring their native language, infants must deploy tools to support their learning. This thesis compared infants growing up in two very different language environments, monolingual and bilingual, to better understand these tools and how their development and use changes with the context of language acquisition.
The first set of studies − Chapter 2 − showed that infants adapt very early-developing tools to the context of their prenatal experience. Newborns born to bilingual mothers directed their attention to both of their native languages, while monolinguals preferred listening to their single native language. However, prenatal bilingual experience did not result in language confusion, as language discrimination was robustly maintained in both monolinguals and bilinguals. Thus, learning mechanisms allow experience-based listening preferences, while enduring perceptual sensitivities support language discrimination even in challenging language environments.
Chapter 3 investigated a fundamental word learning tool: the ability to associate word and object. Monolinguals and bilinguals showed an identical developmental trajectory, suggesting that, unlike some aspects of word learning, this associative ability is equivalent across different types of early language environments.
Chapters 4 and 5 explored the development of a heuristic for learning novel words. Disambiguation is the strategy of associating a novel word with a novel object, rather than a familiar one. In Chapter 4, disambiguation was robustly demonstrated by 18-month-old monolinguals, but not by age-matched bilinguals and trilinguals. The results supported the “lexicon structure hypothesis”, that disambiguation develops with mounting evidence for a one-to-one mapping between words and their referents, as is typical for monolinguals. For bilinguals, translation equivalents (cross-language synonyms) represent a departure from one-to-one mapping. Chapter 5 directly tested the lexicon structure hypothesis, by comparing subgroups of bilinguals who knew few translation equivalents to bilinguals who knew many. Only the former group showed disambiguation, supporting the lexicon structure hypothesis.
The series of studies presented in this thesis provides a window into language acquisition across all infants. Whether growing up monolingual or bilingual, infants harmonize their development and use of the tools of language acquisition to the particular challenges mounted by their language environment.
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Humayun, Sajid. "Imitation, tutoring and tool use in human infancy." Thesis, Goldsmiths College (University of London), 2007. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.582632.
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In a series of three studies the relationship between imitative learning emulation learning and tool use was explored through the replication and extension of an apparatus and an experimental paradigm developed by Nagell Olguin & Tomasello (1993). In addition to examining whether young children were capable of imitative learning studies one, two, and three explored the presence of affordance learning through the more sensitive measure of learning about relative efficiency. Study one found evidence of imitative learning but no evidence of affordance learning in children of 18- to 48-months of age. It was hypothosised that a number of procedural effects may have been inhibiting affordance learning" one of which was explored by using a second, novel problem-solving task in study two with no evidence of affordance learning emerging. Study three explored another procedural effect and found tentative evidence of affordance learning in 3-year-old children. Although the findings of studies one, two and three provided broad support for the position that children tend to use imitation over emulation they suggest that different learning mechanisms may be intertwined.
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Hock, Alyson J. "THE WHOLE PICTURE: BODY POSTURE RECOGNITION IN INFANCY." UKnowledge, 2013. http://uknowledge.uky.edu/psychology_etds/35.
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Holistic image processing is tied to expertise and is characteristic of face and body processing by adults. Infants process faces holistically, but it is unknown whether infants process body information holistically. In the present study, we examined whether infants discriminate changes in body posture holistically. Body posture is an important nonverbal cue that signals emotion, intention, and goals of others even from a distance. In the current study, infants were tested for discrimination between body postures that differ in limb orientations in three conditions: in the context of the whole body, with just the limbs that change orientation, or with the limbs in the context of scrambled body parts. Nine-month olds discriminated between whole body postures, but failed in the isolated parts and scrambled body conditions, indicating that they use holistic processes to discriminate body information. In contrast, 3.5-month olds failed to discriminate between whole body postures, therefore no conclusion can be drawn about their ability to process bodies holistically. These results indicate that infants process body information holistically during the first year of life, but there are developmental changes in the processing of body information from 3.5 to 9 months of age.
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Włodarczyk, Aleksandra [Verfasser]. "Response to Naturalistic Threats in Infancy / Aleksandra Włodarczyk." Berlin : Freie Universität Berlin, 2019. http://d-nb.info/1193491568/34.
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Colquhoun, Fiona. "Feeding and failure to thrive in early infancy." Thesis, Durham University, 2003. http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/4000/.
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The aims of this thesis were fourfold. The first aim was the early identification of cases of non organic failure to thrive in a community based study and of randomly selected controls. Cases and controls were identified at six weeks of age using Thrive Index (Wright et al, 1994). The Thrive Index was used to measure growth velocity from birth to six weeks using two weights (birth weight and six weeks weight).The second aim was to analyse the familial characteristics of case and control families to investigate whether the frequency of failure to thrive over this period was higher in more deprived families, or families with other social characteristics. The characteristics recorded were maternal education, wage earning status, home and car ownership number of previous children and religious affiliation. The results showed that there were no statistically significant differences between the two groups or any of these variables. The third aim was to investigate the early feeding behaviour of the case and control infants. This was done using two separate approaches. The first was a six week feeding questionnaire given to all mothers asking them to provide information about their infant's feeding behaviour. Case infants were more likely to be fed on demand than set times (Chi-square =5.035, df=l, p=0.025). Also, mothers of cases reported their infants’ appetite to be poorer than that of controls (Mann-Whitney U = 1494, z=-2.179, p=0.02). The second approach was to directly observe and measure the infants feeding behaviour when the infants were aged between eight and twelve weeks. This was carried out blind to eliminate experimental bias. The sucking behaviour was analysed using a method described in Woolridge and Drewett (1986). Cases and controls did not differ on any of the recorded sucking behaviour characteristics. The fourth aim was to monitor the growth of cases and controls over one year. Using regression analyses it was found that only sex predicted weight gain to the end of the first year.
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McDougall, Pauline. "Early screening for failure to thrive in infancy." Thesis, Durham University, 2005. http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/2862/.
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The detection of failure to thrive in infancy is an important goal in routine surveillance of children. Failure to thrive is normally identified by slow weight gain, but is associated with feeding problems, and may lead to developmental delay and enduring intellectual defects. The prevention of these consequences is likely to depend on earlier detection of the condition than is currently achieved using traditional methods. An experimental computer based early screening method for the detection of failure to thrive was implemented in a two-year birth cohort (1,966 infants) in 18 general practices in the Easington area. The methods utilised an ACCESS database incorporating the British 1995 growth reference, which was used to convert the infant’s weight to a z score (conditional on age and sex). A 'thrive index' (a z score for weight gain conditional on age, sex and birth weight) was then calculated for the period from birth to the six to eight to week check and the infants in the slowest growing 5% automatically identified. The projected number of births in the 18 practices over the period 1 April 2001 to 31 March 2003 was 1800, and the actual number identified from health visitors' birth registers was 1966. For the 1966 infants, records of both a birth weight and a six to eight week weight were identified for 1880 infants. One hundred and twenty one infants met the criteria for FTT over this period (thrive index <-1.17) and of these, 102 term singletons were eligible to be recruited to the study. Those who participated had their development and weight gain followed to one year of age. Infants were tested at four months and again at nine months using the Bayley Scales of Infant Development (2nd ed). Mental development index (MDI) scores and psychomotor development index (PDI) scores of case infants and controls were compared and a mean difference was found between cases and controls in MDI scores at four months of 3.52 which was statistically significant. The mean difference in PDI scores at four months was 3.59, which was also statistically significant. At nine months the mean difference in MDI scores was 2.26 and the mean difference in PDI scores at nine months was 2.25, which was not statistically significant in either case. Information about demographic characteristics, health and feeding behaviour was obtained by using a structured questionnaire with the mothers. There were no statistically significant differences between families of case and control infants in indicators of affluence such as home or car ownership, nor were there any statistically significant differences between their mothers in their levels of educational achievement. There were no statistically significant differences between cases and controls in whether infants had ever been breast fed. Case group infants, however, were significantly more likely to be slow feeders than controls, and were more likely to take only small quantities and to be weak suckers. They were also more likely to be described by their mothers as having feeding problems. The screening method described provides a practical procedure for weight screening at the six to eight week check that allows identification of children who fail to thrive in the early weeks of life.
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Bedford, Helen Elizabeth. "Meningitis in infancy : a five year follow-up." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 2000. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.392492.
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Coffey, Sarah. "Determinants and influences of paternal responsiveness in infancy." Thesis, University of Exeter, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10871/13865.
Full textAbstract:
Fathers in two-parent families are becoming increasingly involved in infant care, highlighting the need to understand the determinants and influence of father-infant interactions. Paternal responsiveness is a core component of positive father-infant interactions. This study investigated associations between paternal responsiveness and infant development; and paternal low mood and paternal responsiveness. Participants were a sub-sample of father-infant dyads (n=47) from a UK community cohort study: The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. The Mellow Parenting Coding System was used to measure paternal responsiveness within a video-recorded father-infant interaction at 12 months. Infant development was assessed using the Griffiths scales at 18 months and paternal low mood was measured using the Edinburgh Post-Natal Depression Scale (EPDS) at 8 months. Linear regression analysis provided no evidence for an association between paternal responsiveness and infant development. Due to methodological limitations it is unclear whether this reflects a true null relationship. Unexpectedly, lower paternal mood (indicated by higher scores on the EPDS), was found to be associated with greater paternal responsiveness. For every standard deviation increase in EPDS score, fathers displayed approximately two additional responsiveness behaviours per minute in the observed interaction; this corresponds to a standardised effect size of 0.32 standard deviations. The mechanisms for this association are unclear, but possibilities are discussed. The finding requires replication within larger studies, but clinicians may wish to consider that fathers who achieve very low scores on measures of depressed mood may be at risk for low paternal responsiveness.
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Llewellyn, C. H. "Genetic influences on appetite and weight in infancy." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 2011. http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1310260/.
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The aim of this thesis is to test one of the assumptions of the behavioural susceptibility model of weight that inherited differences in appetite are already present in infancy, and that shared genetic effects are contributing to associations with weight from very early on in life. Data from a British birth cohort of 2402 families with infant twins (Gemini) were used to explore associations between appetite and weight, assess genetic influences on appetite, and examine shared genetic pathways underlying appetite and weight. Study 1 describes the development of a parent-report psychometric measure of infant appetite during the period of exclusive milk-feeding. Four underlying dimensions were identified – ‘enjoyment of food’ (EF), ‘food responsiveness’ (FR), ‘slowness in eating’ (SE), ‘satiety responsiveness’ (SR), along with a single general item that correlated with all traits (‘appetite size’, AS). Study 2 established that all traits were significantly associated with higher weight at 3 months and greater increase in weight from birth to 3 months. Study 3 used the twin design to demonstrate moderate to high heritability for all traits (EF: 83%; FR: 59%; SE: 84%; SR: 72%; AS: 77%). Study 4 showed common genetic influence on EF, SE and SR, which explained 78% of the covariation between them, and Study 5 demonstrated common genetic influence between the two satiety-related traits (SE and SR) and weight. Finally, Study 6 was an in-depth exploration of a single case of an infant with extreme appetitive avidity whose parents were forced to exert drastic control measures to avoid severe overeating. This thesis provides evidence for a behavioural susceptibility model of weight because inherited individual differences in appetite are present from early infancy, are phenotypically associated with weight, and share common genetic pathways with weight. Inherited differential susceptibility to the obesogenic environment may be contributing to variability in childhood adiposity.
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Argumosa, Melissa Ann. "Development of Face Recognition: Infancy to Early Childhood." FIU Digital Commons, 2010. http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/317.
Full textAbstract:
Perception and recognition of faces are fundamental cognitive abilities that form a basis for our social interactions. Research has investigated face perception using a variety of methodologies across the lifespan. Habituation, novelty preference, and visual paired comparison paradigms are typically used to investigate face perception in young infants. Storybook recognition tasks and eyewitness lineup paradigms are generally used to investigate face perception in young children. These methodologies have introduced systematic differences including the use of linguistic information for children but not infants, greater memory load for children than infants, and longer exposure times to faces for infants than for older children, making comparisons across age difficult. Thus, research investigating infant and child perception of faces using common methods, measures, and stimuli is needed to better understand how face perception develops. According to predictions of the Intersensory Redundancy Hypothesis (IRH; Bahrick & Lickliter, 2000, 2002), in early development, perception of faces is enhanced in unimodal visual (i.e., silent dynamic face) rather than bimodal audiovisual (i.e., dynamic face with synchronous speech) stimulation. The current study investigated the development of face recognition across children of three ages: 5 – 6 months, 18 – 24 months, and 3.5 – 4 years, using the novelty preference paradigm and the same stimuli for all age groups. It also assessed the role of modality (unimodal visual versus bimodal audiovisual) and memory load (low versus high) on face recognition. It was hypothesized that face recognition would improve across age and would be enhanced in unimodal visual stimulation with a low memory load. Results demonstrated a developmental trend (F(2, 90) = 5.00, p = 0.009) with older children showing significantly better recognition of faces than younger children. In contrast to predictions, no differences were found as a function of modality of presentation (bimodal audiovisual versus unimodal visual) or memory load (low versus high). This study was the first to demonstrate a developmental improvement in face recognition from infancy through childhood using common methods, measures and stimuli consistent across age.
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Hally, Catherine M. "Matthew's infancy narrative a message to all missionaries /." Theological Research Exchange Network (TREN), 1992. http://www.tren.com.
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