Continuous measurement of attachment behavior: A multimodal view of the strange situation procedure.

Infant attachment is a critical indicator of healthy infant social-emotional functioning, which is typically measured using the gold-standard Strange Situation Procedure (SSP). However, expert-based attachment classifications from the SSP are time-intensive (with respect both to expert training and rating), and do not provide an objective, continuous record of infant behavior. To continuously quantify predictors of key attachment behaviors and dimensions, multimodal movement and audio data were collected during the SSP.

Attachment security differs by later autism spectrum disorder: A prospective study.

Although difficulties with social relationships are key to autism spectrum disorder (ASD), no previous study has examined infant attachment security prior to ASD diagnosis. We prospectively assessed attachment security at 15 months in high-risk infants with later ASD (high-risk/ASD, n = 16), high-risk infants without later ASD (high-risk/no-ASD, n = 40), and low-risk infants without later ASD (low-risk/no-ASD, n = 39) using the Strange Situation Procedure. High-risk/ASD infants were disproportionately more likely to be classified as insecure (versus secure) and more likely to be classified as insecure-resistant (versus secure or avoidant) than high-risk/no-ASD and low-risk/no-ASD infants.

A year in words: The dynamics and consequences of language experiences in an intervention classroom.

Children from low SES backgrounds hear, on average, fewer words at home than those from high SES backgrounds. This word gap is associated with widening achievement differences in children's language abilities and school readiness. However relatively little is known about adult and child speech in childcare settings, in which approximately 30% of American children are enrolled.

Representing Sudden Shifts in Intensive Dyadic Interaction Data Using Differential Equation Models with Regime Switching.

A growing number of social scientists have turned to differential equations as a tool for capturing the dynamic interdependence among a system of variables. Current tools for fitting differential equation models do not provide a straightforward mechanism for diagnosing evidence for qualitative shifts in dynamics, nor do they provide ways of identifying the timing and possible determinants of such shifts. In this paper, we discuss regime-switching differential equation models, a novel modeling framework for representing abrupt changes in a system of differential equation models.

Combining region- and network-level brain-behavior relationships in a structural equation model.

Brain-behavior associations in fMRI studies are typically restricted to a single level of analysis: either a circumscribed brain region-of-interest (ROI) or a larger network of brain regions. However, this common practice may not always account for the interdependencies among ROIs of the same network or potentially unique information at the ROI-level, respectively. To account for both sources of information, we combined measurement and structural components of structural equation modeling (SEM) approaches to empirically derive networks from ROI activity, and to assess the association of both individual ROIs and their respective whole-brain activation networks with task performance using three large task-fMRI datasets and two separate brain parcellation schemes.

Gently does it: Humans outperform a software classifier in recognizing subtle, nonstereotypical facial expressions.

According to dominant theories of affect, humans innately and universally express a set of emotions using specific configurations of prototypical facial activity. Accordingly, thousands of studies have tested emotion recognition using sets of highly intense and stereotypical facial expressions, yet their incidence in real life is virtually unknown. In fact, a commonplace experience is that emotions are expressed in subtle and nonprototypical forms.

The relationship between autism symptoms and arousal level in toddlers with autism spectrum disorder, as measured by electrodermal activity.

Electrodermal activity was examined as a measure of physiological arousal within a naturalistic play context in 2-year-old toddlers ( N = 27) with and without autism spectrum disorder. Toddlers with autism spectrum disorder were found to have greater increases in skin conductance level than their typical peers in response to administered play activities. In the autism spectrum disorder group, a positive relationship was observed between restrictive and repetitive behaviors and skin conductance level increases in response to mechanical toys, whereas the opposite pattern was observed for passive toys.

Isolated effects of number of acquisition trials on extinction of rat conditioned approach behavior.

Four conditioned approach experiments with rats assessed for effects of number of acquisition trials on extinction of conditioned responding, when number of acquisition sessions and total acquisition time were held constant. In Experiment 1, 32 trials per acquisition session led to more extinction responding than did 1 or 2 trials per session but less than did 4 trials per session. In Experiment 2, 2 trials per acquisition session led to more spontaneous recovery than did 32 trials per session.