The proposal is a renewal of HD-17205 which was concerned with the relationship between affect and cognition in young babies. A methodology was developed whereby changes in facial expression could be examined in 10-, 16-, 24- and 52-week old infants. The results of these studies show a complex interrelationship of emotional/motivational processes to learning/cognition in earliest months of life. In the present application additional studies are proposed to extend and clarify work of the original grant. The purpose is to further refine and model the interaction of affect with cognition as measured by early contingency learning. The new studies proposed all involve analysis of infant emotional expressions during learning. Ages of infants and the nature of the design vary depending on the specific research question addressed by the study. The studies proposed are: (1) Does the nature of the contingency effect the patterns of facial expression observed in 10- to 24-week old infants? In particular, is the pattern of age differences in facial expression altered? (2) What is the nature of the emotional response to violation of the learned expectancy (that is extinction) in 10- to 24-week old infants? (3) Do emotions observed during one contingency learning task facilitate learning of a second different contingency.
| Sullivan, Margaret Wolan; Carmody, Dennis P (2018) Approach-related emotion, toddlers' persistence, and negative reactions to failure. Soc Dev 27:586-600 |
| Sullivan, Margaret W (2018) Anger, sad, and blended expressions to contingency disruption in young infants. Dev Psychobiol 60:938-949 |
| Sullivan, Margaret Wolan (2016) Vagal tone during infant contingency learning and its disruption. Dev Psychobiol 58:366-81 |
| Lewis, Michael; Sullivan, Margaret W; Kim, Hillary Mi-Sung (2015) Infant approach and withdrawal in response to a goal blockage: Its antecedent causes and its effect on toddler persistence. Dev Psychol 51:1553-63 |
