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 A Continuation Order Plan is available for this series. A continuation order will bring delivery of each new volume immediately upon publication. Volumes are billed only upon actual shipment. For further information please contact the publisher. 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 A Division of Plenum Publishing Corporation 233 Spring Street, New York. N.Y. 10013 All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher 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