Neonatal brain metabolite concentrations: Associations with age, sex, and developmental outcomes.

Age and sex differences in brain metabolite concentrations in early life are not well understood. We examined the associations of age and sex with brain metabolite levels in healthy neonates, and investigated the associations between neonatal brain metabolite concentrations and developmental outcomes. Forty-one infants (36-42 gestational weeks at birth; 39% female) of predominantly Hispanic/Latina mothers (mean 18 years of age) underwent MRI scanning approximately two weeks after birth.

Associations between different dimensions of prenatal distress, neonatal hippocampal connectivity, and infant memory.

Prenatal maternal distress-an umbrella concept encompassing multiple negative psychological states including stress, anxiety, and depression-is a substantial prenatal exposure. Consistent across preclinical and human studies, the hippocampus displays alterations due to prenatal distress. Nevertheless, most prenatal distress studies do not focus on multiple dimensions of, have not examined hippocampal functional connectivity in association with, and do not consider observer-based functional outcomes related to distress.

The mobile conjugate reinforcement paradigm in a lab setting.

The mobile conjugate reinforcement task was administered to 4-month-old infants in a lab rather than a home setting where it is usually administered. Learning and retention patterns were comparable to those of infants tested in their homes, suggesting flexibility in where this task can be administered. These results pave the way for this task to be used with a broader range of infants for whom home visits are not practical or convenient (e.

Higher maternal prenatal cortisol and younger age predict greater infant reactivity to novelty at 4 months: an observation-based study.

Distress-linked activation of the maternal hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA)-axis is considered a pathway by which affect regulation impacts the fetal milieu and neurodevelopment. There is little direct evidence for this conceptual model. In 103 women [mean age 27.

Image-dependent interaction of imagery and vision.

The influence of imagery on perception depends on the content of the mental image. Sixty-three students responded to the location of the 2 hands of a clock while visualizing the correct or an incorrect clock. Reaction time was shorter with valid cueing.

Understanding spatial relations: flexible infants, lexical adults.

Concepts of containment, support, and degree of fit were investigated using nonverbal, preferential-looking tasks with 9- to 14-month-old infants and adults who were fluent in either English or Korean. Two contrasts were tested: tight containment vs. loose support (grammaticized as 'in' and 'on' in English by spatial prepositions and 'kkita' and 'nohta' in Korean by spatial verbs) and tight containment vs.

Basic-level nouns: first learned but misunderstood.

It is commonly believed that first-learned words correspond with first-learned categories (both described as 'basic level') leading to the belief that language acquisition is a reasonably good indicator of early cognition. However, toddlers often overextend their first words. Do these errors reflect their comprehension? Two experiments were conducted in order to examine two-year-olds' production and comprehension of basic-level terms.