Complementary feeding approach and maternal responsiveness in 8- and 12-month-old Italian infants: A longitudinal study.

In Western countries, infants are usually introduced to solids through spoon-fed puréed foods (parent-led weaning, PLW). However, an alternative approach known as "baby-led weaning" (BLW), in which infants usually participate in family meals and eat independently, is becoming increasingly popular. We investigated the relationship between the type of complementary feeding approach and maternal responsiveness to infant feeding cues in a longitudinal sample of 178 infants observed at 8 and 12 months. Mothers reported the complementary feeding method used and, from video-recorded meals, we coded the proportion of time infants self-fed and rated maternal responsiveness by means of the Responsiveness to Child Feeding Cues Scale (Hodges et al., 2013). Responsiveness to infant receptiveness and fullness cues were significantly correlated at 8 months, but not at 12 months, when unresponsiveness decreased for receptiveness but remained stable for fullness cues. Thus, as infants got older, mothers were increasingly tuned in to their receptiveness cues. However, we did not observe the same pattern for fullness cues, perhaps because mothers were concerned that their infants did not eat enough. Moreover, at both time points, mothers were more responsive to infants' receptiveness than fullness cues, possibly due to an evolutionary drive to protect infants from starvation. Finally, responsiveness to fullness, but not responsiveness to receptiveness, was positively related to the proportion of infant self-feeding, but there were no significant differences in responsiveness depending on the self-reported complementary feeding approach. Thus, a weaning style that emphasizes independent feeding, regardless of whether this is labeled as BLW, may promote more infant-centered maternal responses at the end of the meal, with potential implications for promoting infant self-regulation not only at mealtimes, but also in other domains.

Abstract words processing induces parasympathetic activation: A thermal imaging study.

words (e.g., freedom) compose a significant part of speech. Despite this, learning them is complicated. Abstract concepts collect more heterogeneous exemplars and are more detached from sensory modalities than concrete concepts. Recent views propose that, because of their complexity, other people are pivotal for abstract concepts' acquisition and use, e.g., to explain their meaning. We tested this hypothesis using a combined behavioral and thermal imaging paradigm. Twenty-one Italian children (10\F, mean age: 6 years) determined whether acoustic stimuli (concrete and abstract words; non-words) were or not correct Italian words (lexical decision). Concrete terms yielded faster responses than abstract ones: for the first time, this effect appears with response times in very young children. More crucially, the higher increase in temperature of the nasal tip (i.e., typically associated with parasympathetic dominance of the neurovegetative response) suggests that, with abstract concepts, children might be more socially and cognitively engaged.

Infant sleep and development: Concurrent and longitudinal relations during the first 8 months of life.

Sleep is an essential function of human life, underlying both biological and cultural processes. Dramatic changes in sleep occur during infancy, in terms of night awakenings, which tend to diminish over time, and day/night sleep duration, with newborns sleeping up to 16-17 h per day and gradually decreasing to 9-13 h between 6 and 11 months of age. Remarkably, research indicates that changes in infant sleep are in interaction with important acquisitions in other domains of child development. In the present study, we aimed at investigating concurrent and longitudinal relations between sleep and cognitive maturation during infancy, by collecting data on 156 infants at 4 and 8 months of age. Infants' sleep was assessed through the Brief Infant Sleep Questionnaire (BISQ; Sadeh, 2004), whereas cognitive maturation was evaluated using the Developmental Profile™ 3 (Alpern 2007). We also examined infants' language understanding through the short form of the Italian version of the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory (MCDI-SF): Words and Gestures (Caselli, Bello, Rinaldi, Stefanini, & Pasqualetti, 2015; Fenson et al., 2000). Finally, information about infants' temperament and maternal practices potentially relevant for sleep quality, such as the use of a pacifier at nighttime, co-sleeping and exclusive breastfeeding, was detected. Results showed that night and day sleep were differently related to infants' development at 4 and 8 months of age, but there were no robust longitudinal relationships.

Online Assessment of Motor, Cognitive, and Communicative Achievements in 4-Month-Old Infants.

Remote methods for data collection allow us to quickly collect large amounts of data, offering several advantages as compared to in-lab administration. We investigated the applicability of an online assessment of motor, cognitive, and communicative development in 4-month-old infants based on several items of the Bayley Scales of Infant Development, 3rd edition (BSID-III). We chose a subset of items which were representative of the typical developmental achievements at 4 months of age and that we could administer online with the help of the infant's caregiver using materials which were easily available at home. Results showed that, in a sample of infants tested live (N = 18), the raw scores of the BSID-III were significantly correlated with the raw scores of a subset of items corresponding to those administered to a sample of infants tested online (N = 53). Moreover, for the "online" participants, the raw scores of the online assessment did not significantly differ from the corresponding scores of the "live" participants. These findings suggest that the online assessment was to some extent comparable to the live administration of the same items, thus representing a viable opportunity to remotely evaluate infant development when in-person assessment is not possible.

Contextual factors modulate risk preferences in adult humans.

Humans have generally been considered risk averse for gains. Yet, growing evidence shows that risk preferences may change across reward currencies and depend on the type of tasks used to measure them. Here, we examined how context affects human risk preferences to shed light on the psychological mechanisms underlying human decision-making under risk. Participants were presented with a descriptive risky choice task involving repeated choices between real options and they were provided with trial-by-trial feedback. We manipulated the type of reward and, for the first time, the format of the choice stimuli. Options were either 2D computer-based images or concrete 3D objects, and participants received food or money as reward. First, we found that participants were more risk-seeking for food compared to money, suggesting that people treat money differently from consumable rewards. Second, we found that people were more risk-seeking when they made choices between concrete 3D objects than between 2D computer-based images. Our results strengthened the evidence that human choice patterns may change depending on the context and, for the first time, showed that the format of the choice stimuli does affect risk preferences, an important consideration for future research.