The Emergence of Intentional Communication in Ontogeny, Phylogeny, and Pathology

The emergence of intentional gestural communication around the end of the first year of life is widely recognized as a basic milestone in the infant's communicative development. Two types of comparison are carried out in this paper. The first comparison concerns the gestural communication of human infants and of our nearest primate relatives, the apes, and especially the well-studied chimpanzees. The second comparison considers a special case of gestural communication, namely children with autism, who fail to develop some important forms of communication, language, and social interaction that normal infants develop in the first 2 years of life. In seeking to explain the patterns of similarities and differences derived from these two comparisons, the possible role of several developmental processes will be considered and evaluated: social sensitivity, sensitivity to eye contact and gaze, understanding of agency, and understanding of subjectivity.

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Timely sleep facilitates declarative memory consolidation in infants

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ◽

10.1073/pnas.1414000112 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 112 (5) ◽

pp. 1625-1629 ◽

Cited By ~ 51

Author(s):

Sabine Seehagen ◽

Carolin Konrad ◽

Jane S. Herbert ◽

Silvia Schneider

Keyword(s):

Matched Control ◽

Declarative Memory ◽

Memory Performance ◽

First Year ◽

Control Groups ◽

Human Infants ◽

Memory Processing ◽

Early Memory ◽

First Year Of Life

Human infants devote the majority of their time to sleeping. However, very little is known about the role of sleep in early memory processing. Here we test 6- and 12-mo-old infants’ declarative memory for novel actions after a 4-h [Experiment (Exp.) 1] and 24-h delay (Exp. 2). Infants in a nap condition took an extended nap (≥30 min) within 4 h after learning, whereas infants in a no-nap condition did not. A comparison with age-matched control groups revealed that after both delays, only infants who had napped after learning remembered the target actions at the test. Additionally, after the 24-h delay, memory performance of infants in the nap condition was significantly higher than that of infants in the no-nap condition. This is the first experimental evidence to our knowledge for an enhancing role of sleep in the consolidation of declarative memories in the first year of life.

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Distribution ofStreptococcus mitisbiovar 1 phenotypes on shedding and non-shedding oral surfaces of human infants during the first year of life

Microbial Ecology in Health and Disease ◽

10.3402/mehd.v17i3.7785 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 17 (3) ◽

Author(s):

Jennifer L. Kirchherr ◽

George H. Bowden ◽

Dorothy A. Richmond ◽

Michael J. Sheridan ◽

Katherine A. Wirth ◽

...

Keyword(s):

First Year ◽

Human Infants ◽

First Year Of Life

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The critical role of experience in the early development of multisensory perception

Seeing and Perceiving ◽

10.1163/187847612x648297 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 25 (0) ◽

pp. 200

Author(s):

David J. Lewkowicz

Keyword(s):

Selective Attention ◽

Critical Role ◽

Early Experience ◽

Multisensory Perception ◽

First Year ◽

Early Deprivation ◽

Human Infants ◽

Perceptual Skills ◽

First Year Of Life ◽

Perceptual Narrowing

Human infancy is a time of rapid neural and behavioral development and multisensory perceptual skills emerge during this time. Both animal and human early deprivation studies have shown that experience contributes critically to the development of multisensory perception. Unfortunately, Bodison because the human deprivation studies have only studied adult responsiveness, little is known about the more immediate effects of early experience on multisensory development. Consequently, we have embarked on a program of research to investigate how early experience affects the development of multisensory perception in human infants. To do so, we have focused on multisensory perceptual narrowing, an experience-dependent process where initially broad perceptual tuning is narrowed to match the infant’s native environment. In this talk, I first review our work demonstrating that multisensory narrowing characterizes infants’ response to non-native (i.e., monkey) faces and voices, that the initially broad tuning is present at birth, that narrowing also occurs in the audiovisual speech domain, and that multisensory narrowing is an evolutionarily novel process. In the second part of the talk, I present findings from our most recent studies indicating that experience has a seemingly paradoxical effect on infant response to audio–visual synchrony, that experience narrows infant response to amodal language and intonational prosody cues, and that experience interacts with developmental changes in selective attention during the first year of life resulting in dramatic developmental shifts in human infants’ selective attention to the eyes and mouth of their interlocutors’ talking faces.

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Stability of neuronal avalanches and long-range temporal correlations during the first year of life in human infants

Brain Structure and Function ◽

10.1007/s00429-019-02014-4 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 225 (3) ◽

pp. 1169-1183 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Mostafa Jannesari ◽

Alireza Saeedi ◽

Marzieh Zare ◽

Silvia Ortiz-Mantilla ◽

Dietmar Plenz ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Long Range ◽

First Year ◽

Human Infants ◽

Temporal Correlations ◽

First Year Of Life ◽

Neuronal Avalanches

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Acute Bronchiolitis: Is There a Role for Lung Ultrasound?

Diagnostics ◽

10.3390/diagnostics9040172 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 9 (4) ◽

pp. 172 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Di Mauro ◽

Ammirabile ◽

Quercia ◽

Panza ◽

Capozza ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Clinical Management ◽

Lung Ultrasound ◽

Ultrasound Examination ◽

Diagnostic Algorithm ◽

Current Evidence ◽

Radiographic Examination ◽

First Year ◽

Pubmed Database ◽

First Year Of Life

Introduction: Viral bronchiolitis is a common cause of lower respiratory tract infection in the first year of life, considered a health burden because of its morbidity and costs. Its diagnosis is based on history and physical examination and the role of radiographic examination is limited to atypical cases. Thus far, Lung Ultrasound (LUS) is not considered in the diagnostic algorithm for bronchiolitis. Methods: PubMed database was searched for trials reporting on lung ultrasound examination and involving infants with a diagnosis of bronchiolitis. Results: Eight studies were suitable. Conclusions: This review analyzed the current evidence about the potential usefulness of LUS in the clinical management of bronchiolitis. Literature supports a peculiar role of LUS in the evaluation of the affected children, considering it as a reliable imaging test that could benefit the clinical management of bronchiolitis.

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Pathogenic Role of the X-Linked Cyclin-Dependent Kinase-Like 5 and Aristaless-Related Homeobox Genes in Epileptic Encephalopathy of Unknown Etiology With Onset in the First Year of Life

Journal of Child Neurology ◽

10.1177/0883073810387827 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 26 (6) ◽

pp. 683-691 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Stefano Sartori ◽

Roberta Polli ◽

Elisa Bettella ◽

Sara Rossato ◽

Wainer Andreoli ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Homeobox Genes ◽

Epileptic Encephalopathy ◽

Unknown Etiology ◽

First Year ◽

Cyclin Dependent Kinase ◽

Pathogenic Role ◽

First Year Of Life

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Patterns of skill attainment and loss in young children with autism

Development and Psychopathology ◽

10.1017/s0954579413000874 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 26 (1) ◽

pp. 203-214 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Audrey Thurm ◽

Stacy S. Manwaring ◽

David A. Luckenbaugh ◽

Catherine Lord ◽

Susan E. Swedo

Keyword(s):

Developmental Disorder ◽

Developmental Delays ◽

Great Majority ◽

Children With Autism ◽

Autism Spectrum ◽

First Year ◽

Typically Developing ◽

Typically Developing Children ◽

Not Otherwise Specified ◽

First Year Of Life

AbstractThe purpose of this study was to extend the literature on the ontogeny of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) by examining early attainment and loss of specific sociocommunicative skills in children with autism (AUT; n = 125), pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS; n = 42), nonspectrum developmental delays (n = 46), and typical development (n = 31). The ages of skill attainment and loss were obtained from a caregiver interview. The findings indicated that children with AUT, PDD-NOS, and developmental delays diverged from typically developing children in attainment of sociocommunicative skills early in the first year of life. Loss of at least one skill was reported in a majority of children with AUT and PDD-NOS. Significant delays in attainment of skills were also reported in children who lost skills. The wide variation in skill attainment and loss reported across children indicates that symptom onset and regression may be best represented continuously, with at least some early delay and loss present for a great majority of children with ASD.

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Infant anticipatory stress

Biology Letters ◽

10.1098/rsbl.2010.0565 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

pp. 136-138 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

David W. Haley ◽

Jennifer Cordick ◽

Sarah Mackrell ◽

Immaculate Antony ◽

Maireanne Ryan-Harrison

Keyword(s):

Stress Response ◽

Stress Hormones ◽

Stressful Events ◽

Control Group ◽

Stressful Event ◽

First Year ◽

Human Infants ◽

Future Challenges ◽

First Year Of Life ◽

Pituitary Adrenal Axis

In humans, anticipatory stress involves activation of the limbic–hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis, which releases stress hormones such as cortisol in response to an impending stressor. Conditioning of the stress response to anticipate and prepare for future challenges is a hallmark of adaptation. It is unknown whether human infants in the first year of life have developed the neural circuitry to support the anticipation of stressful events in an attachment context. Here, we show that human infants at six months of age produce an anticipatory stress response, as indicated by the release of stress hormones, when re-exposed after 24 h to a context in which they demonstrated a stress response to a disruption in the parent–infant relationship. Although infant stress response (cortisol elevation) was greater to the stressful event (parent unresponsiveness) than to the second exposure to the stress context (room, chair, presence of parent and experimenter, etc.), it was greater in the stress group than in the control group on both days. Results suggest that human infants have the capacity to produce an anticipatory stress response that is based on expectations about how their parents will treat them in a specific context.

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