The Behavior of Human Infants

307 Pages·1983·10.463 MB·English

by  Davide Csermely, Danilo Mainardi (auth.), Alberto Oliverio, Michele Zappella (eds.)

The Behavior of
Human Infants
ETTORE MAJOR ANA INTERNATIONAL SCIENCE SERIES
Series Editor:
Antonino Zichichi
European Physical Society
Geneva, Switzerland
(LIFE SCIENCES)
Recent volumes in the series
Volume 4 SELECTED TOPICS IN EXERCISE CARDIOLOGY
AND REHABILITATION
Edited by A. Raineri, J. J. Kellermann, and V. Rulli
Volume 5 THE AGING BRAIN: Neurological and Mental Disturbances
Edited by G. Barbagallo-Sangiorgi and A. N. Exton-Smith
Volume 6 THE LUNG IN ITS ENVIRONMENT
Edited by G. Bonsignore and G. Cumming
Volume 7 INVESTIGATION OF BRAIN FUNCTION
Edited by A. W. Wilkinson
Volume 8 THE IMMUNOLOGY OF INFANT FEEDING
Edited by A. W. Wilkinson
Volume 9 ADVANCES IN NEPHROUROLOGY
Edited by M. Pavone-Macaluso and P. H. Smith
Volume 10 CELLULAR BIOLOGY OF THE LUNG
Edited by G. Cumming and G. Bonsignore
Volume 11 BIOELECTROCHEMISTRY I: Biological Redox Reactions
Edited by G. Milazzo and Martin Blank
Volume 12 SELECTED TOPICS IN PREVENTIVE CARDIOLOGY
Edited by Angelo Raineri and Jan J. Kellermann
Volume 13 THE BEHAVIOR OF HUMAN INFANTS
Edited by Alberto Oliverio and Michele Zap pella
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The Behavior of
Human Infants
Edited by
Alberto Oliverio
University of Rome
Rome, Italy
and
Michele Zappella
Regional Hospital-Siena
Siena, Italy
Plenum Press • New York and London
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Main entry under title
The Behavior of human infants.
(Ettore majorana international science series, Life sciences; v. 13)
"Proceedings of the first workshop of the International School of Ethology on the
Behavior of Human Infants, held August 22-27, 1981, in Erice, Sicily, Italy"-T.p.
verso.
Bibliography: p
Includes index.
1. Infant psychology-Congresses. I. Oliverio, Alberto. II. Zappella, Michele M. III.
Series.
BF719.B431983 83-13965
ISBN-13: 978-1-4613-3786-7 e-ISBN-13: 978-1-4613-3784-3
001: 10.1007/978-1-4613-3784-3
Proceedings of the First workshop on the International School of Ethology on
The Behavior of Human Infants, held August 22-27, 1981,
in Erice, Sicily, Italy
© 1983 Plenum Press, New York
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1s t edition 1983
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233 Spring Street, New York. N.Y. 10013
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PREFACE
The present workshop started with various requests on behalf of
several participants: some of us suggested the desirability of having
only a free discussion, leaving papers aside: others would have
preferred to stick to papers, though enlarging the discussion of each
of them to more general topics. Further, intermediate positions were
also present. From these different proposals came the hypothesis that
a common frame or red line to all of our discussions on behavioural
development would be to see what could be done by an interexchange
of differing but converging disciplines in favour of children, and
in particular of children with psychic handicaps, in terms of preven
tion and cure. At the end of three days of prolonged meetings, where
each paper was given and extensively discussed, one feels that a
number of referral points have emerged. On the one side the plas
ticity of behaviour, on the other is reciprocity (between mother and
child, father and child and perhaps we should add between mother and
father). The third point, which perhaps has been only partially
covered, concerns the relationship between these two variables, i.e.
in terms of treatment of a child, the potential plasticity of his
behaviour can be used to his great advantage if it is related to the
historical common needs of the reciprocal relationship, for example,
between the child and his parents.
If these three referral points are accepted as significant in the
process of child development, then one may envisage a child psychology
and a child psychiatry very different from the present one, having
always as a starting point a careful observation of behaviour and
ability to re-open concepts (using Papousek's words) continuously.
Perhaps one of the main contributions that ethology is currently
making to these allied disciplines (psychology and psychiatry) lies
in its attempt to read behaviour in terms of main functional systems,
such as approach and avoidance, etc., where there are embedded inborn
programme activities as well as learned, cognitive and, in a word,
cultural components. This approach is in line with the results of
psychobiological studies conducted on infant development with the
idea of a fundamental adaptive system composed of two sets of
mechanisms: one set for exploring, approaching and getting to know
reality, the opposite set involved in avoidance and reduction of
v
vi PREFACE
informational input. The psychobiological approach allows a better
understanding of reciprocal behaviour between the infant and the
adult both on a cognitive and an emotional-social point of view and
emphasizes the need for play and creativity in that system.
Following this approach we have been able, for example, to see
in a longitudinal perspective how rich can be the first drama which
is played between mother and child and in a cross-cultural perspective
we were able to see common traits of this relationship in quite
different cultures. One feels that by clarifying the inborn compo
nents, which are a part of man's history, one is better confronted
with the cultural components of his life.
These data support the more recent interpretations of severe
psychiatric disorders of children and fit perfectly with the more
advanced therapeutic results obtained in treating autistic children.
It was apparently through the display of some largely inborn uncon
scious parental qualities that a number of autistic children can
improve or be healed through the help chiefly of their parents. In
these studies, however, it became evident that in order to move those
unconscious parental qualities which are so helpful in breaking down
the 'autistic wall' and in the recovery of child's ability to relate
to people and to the world, it was usually necessary to touch some
important component of the parent's historical relationship with his
child. Thus again cultural and biological aspects of man's history
corne together.
At the end of the meeting it was apparent from the discussion
that political consequences may follow: if this is true, we would be
inclined to think, or to hope, that it would be in the direction of
an education and a health system where the balance of power should be
able to oscillate, and to open the world to the one or to the other
part of the relationship and to a general attitude towards different
cultures more humble than is usual on the part of industrialized
societies, but in being able to understand what are the teachings
which can be drawn from them in order to solve present day problems
of children's education and mental health.
CONTENTS
Infant Signals 1
D. Csermely and D. Mainardi
A Comparative Approach to Behavioral
Development 21
A. Oliverio and C. Castellano
A Developmental Analysis of Suckling
in the Rat 39
J. S. Rosenblatt
The Interpretation of Sensitive Periods 57
P. Bateson
Social Development in Rhesus Monkeys:
Consideration of Individual
Differences 71
S. J. Suomi
And What of Fetal Audition? 93
M.-C. Busnel and C. Granier-Deferre
Some Peculiarities of Electrical Brain
Activity Correlated with Behavioral
States in Infancy: A Review 127
C. Faienza
Interpersonal Abilities of Infants as
Generators for Transmission of
Language and Culture 145
C. Trevarthen
Patterns of Parent-Child Interaction in
a Cross-Cultural Perspective 177
I. Eibl-Eibesfeldt
vii
viii CONTENTS
The Psychobiology of the First Didactic
Programs and Toys in Human Infants 219
H. Papousek and M. Papousek
Development of Social Avoidance in
Autistic Children 241
J. Richer
Parental Affiliation as a Key Reference
in the Treatment of Infantile Autism 267
M. Zappella
Urbanization as a Factor Influencing
Child Behavior 283
C. Stroppa
Index 295
INFANT SIGNALS
Davide Csermely and Danilo Mainardi
Istituto di Zoologia
Universita di Parma
Parma, Italy
INTRODUCTION
If any of us can distinguish at first sight an infant mammal or
bird from an adult of the same species, this depends partly on the
fact that we possess an ability to recognize the distinctive signals
associated with that species member. This concept was explained for
the first time by Lorenz (1943). In his paper he suggests that the
altricial young of many homeothermous species possess some common
features, especially in the head, the so called "baby schema". Such
similarities suggest an evolutionary convergence phenomenon that
allows a young animal to be recognized such not only by its parents
but also by strange adults of its own or even different species.
We assign the status of infant to an animal only if we recognize
the presence of certain characters, largely unspecifiable; that is,
only if both behavior and appearance coincide with what German
Authors would call infant 'Gestalt'. This is not a defined, unitary
image. Rather, it is a combination of broad characters, applicable
to a large number of mammals and birds. Thus, the use of the label
"infant" or "immature" is the result of a decision which is taken
only after these characters have been examined.
Human "infant Gestalt" is quite similar to that of many other
species. Presumably, this is the reason why man, after becoming a
hunter, did not kill all the animals he met indiscriminately, but now
and then would spare or even adopt some, starting in some cases the
process of domestication.
The origin and evolution of infant form is evident when one
considers the natural situation in which this form is most effective,
2 D. CSERMELY AND D. MAINARDI
i.e. the moment of reproduction. An adult who has produced some
offspring will recognize his progeny only if it possesses specific
characters. Therefore, the infant -must use signals to communicate
with his parents, and the parents in turn must be able somehow to
receive his signals. These communication signals involve the entire
range of sensory capabilities: vision, hearing, smell, taste and
perhaps touch as well. When the signals fade out, or disappear, the
parents lose interest in their offspring. It is probable that wean
ing is based upon a mechanism of this sort.
But adults are not always willing to provide parental care for
the young. In order for infant signals to be recognized and to evoke
the appropriate response, specific signals must be present. Tinbergen
(1969) found that herring gulls (Larus argentatus) completely ignore
or even eat a herring gull egg if the egg is presented to an indi
vidual which is not breeding. However, the same egg will release
parental behavior if it is offered just prior to egg-laying. In
other cases, it is probably the presence or sight of the young that
triggers off parental response (Noirot, 1964a,b,c, 1965; Carlier and
Noirot, 1965; Gandelman, 1973). An extreme example of this is ma
ternal imprinting in sheep: ewes recognize and accept their lambs
only after they have learnt their odor (Hafez, 1975).
The place where the infant is encountered may be especially
important. Gannets (genus Sula) generally accept strange chicks in
their nest, but viciously attack their own chicks if these approach
the nest from outside (Nelson, 1975). In the house mouse (Mus muscu
lus), a highly territorial species in which parental care is well
developed (see for example Svare et al., 1977; Priestnall and Young,
1978; Csermely and Mainardi, 1981), Beilharz (1975) found that males
take care of strange pups, if these are found within their home
range. Otherwise, the young are ignored or even killed.
INFANT SIGNALS IN ADOPTION OF YOUNG
The young have evolved the ability to produce signals that evoke
recognition by adults and block aggression, probably also because
they are almost completely unprotected from adults (for example,
species with altricial young). The signals produced by the infants
not only increase the survival rate of the young who happen to en
counter strange adults, but also raise the fitness of their parents.
This provides the basis for adoption, a highly developed behavior,
especially in rodents. An infant that has inadvertently become
separated from its parents not only blocks the aggressive behavior of
the adults that meet him, but also evokes a tendency to retrieving
and adoption. Infant signals, then, serve as releasing mechanisms.
In addition, different species have evolved similarities in the
key stimuli associated with their infants. Evolutionary convergence