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Background: Progesterone is widely used in prenatal care. However, long-term effects of prenatal progesterone treatment on child development are unclear., Objectives: To evaluate long-term outcomes in children after prenatal progesterone treatment., Search Strategy: MEDLINE, Embase and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials from inception to 24 May 2020., Selection Criteria: Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) reporting outcomes in children born to women who received progesterone treatment (compared with placebo or another intervention) during any trimester in pregnancy., Data Collection and Analysis: Two authors independently selected and extracted data. We used the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool for randomised trials and Quality In Prognosis Studies., Main Results: Of 388 papers, we included seven articles based on five RCTs, comprising 4222 measurements of children aged 6 months to 8 years. All studies compared progesterone to placebo in second and/or third trimester for the prevention of preterm birth. Meta-analysis (two studies, n = 890 children) showed no difference in neurodevelopment as assessed by the Bayley-III Cognitive Composite score at 2 years between children exposed to progesterone versus placebo (Standardised Mean Difference -0.04, 95% Confidence Interval -0.26 to 0.19), I 2  = 22%. Heterogeneity prohibited additional meta-analyses. Other long-term outcomes showed no differences., Conclusions: Our systematic review comprising a multitude of developmental measurements with a broad age range did not find evidence of benefit or harm in offspring prenatally exposed to progesterone treatment for the prevention of preterm birth. We identified an urgent need for follow-up studies of prenatal progesterone administration in early pregnancy and effects in offspring beyond early childhood., Tweetable Abstract: Progesterone to prevent preterm birth: no effect on child development. Outcomes after first trimester progesterone are unclear., (© 2020 The Authors. BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Forgiveness is a powerful feature of human social life, allowing for the restoration of positive cooperative relationships. Despite its importance, we know relatively little about how forgiveness develops during early life and the features that shape forgiveness decisions. Here, we investigated forgiveness behavior in children aged 5-10 years (N = 257) from the United States, varying transgressor intent and remorse in a behavioral task that pitted punishment against forgiveness. We found that baseline levels of forgiveness are high, suggesting that children assume the best of transgressors in the absence of information about intent and remorse. We also found age-related increases in sensitivity to intent but not remorse, such that older children are more likely to forgive accidental transgressions. Because forgiveness is an important tool in the human social toolkit, exploring the ways in which this ability develops across age can help us to better understand the early roots of human cooperation., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objective: Cardiac autonomic nervous system (ANS) measures, respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and preejection period (PEP), are valid and reliable indicators of children's sensitivity to their environment; however, there are few studies of ANS measures in children less than three years of age. This study's aim was to summarize the distributions, stability, and continuity of RSA and PEP measures during resting, challenge, and reactivity for children at 18- and 36-months., Methods: This was a cohort study of racially- and ethnically-diverse, low-income children who completed a developmentally challenging protocol while we simultaneously assessed their RSA and PEP at 18-months (N = 134) and 36-months (N = 102)., Results: The ANS resting, challenge, and reactivity measures at 18- and 36-months of age were normally distributed. The RSA resting (r = 0.29), RSA challenge (r = 0.44), PEP resting (r = 0.55) and PEP challenge (r = 0.58) measures were moderately stable but RSA (r = 0.01) and PEP reactivity (r = 0.02) were not stable from 18- to 36-months of age. There was no continuity in the ANS measures from 18- to 36-months of age with statistically significant changes in sample means for all of the ANS measures., Discussion: These developmental changes in ANS are shown at the sample level but there are individual differences in ANS responses from 18- to 36-months that may be affected by adversity or protective factors experienced early in life.

This study examined the developmental trajectory of neurodevelopmental motor signs among boys and girls with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and typically-developing (TD) children. Seventy children with ADHD and 48 TD children, aged 8-17 years, were evaluated on at least two time-points using the Physical and Neurological Assessment of Subtle Signs (PANESS). Age-related changes in subtle motor signs (overflow, dysrhythmia, speed) were modeled using linear mixed-effects models to compare the developmental trajectories among four subgroups (ADHD girls and boys and TD girls and boys). Across visits, both boys and girls with ADHD showed greater overflow, dysrhythmia, and slower speed on repetitive motor tasks compared to TD peers; whereas, only girls with ADHD were slower on sequential motor tasks than TD girls. Developmental trajectory analyses revealed a greater reduction in overflow with age among boys with ADHD than TD boys; whereas, trajectories did not differ among girls with and without ADHD, or among boys and girls with ADHD. For dysrhythmia and speed, there were no trajectory differences between the subgroups, with all groups showing similar reductions with age. Children with ADHD show developmental trajectories of subtle motor signs that are consistent with those of TD children, with one clear exception: Boys with ADHD show more significant reductions in overflow from childhood to adolescence than do their TD peers. Our findings affirm the presence of subtle motor signs in children with ADHD and suggest that some of these signs, particularly motor overflow in boys, resolve through adolescence while dysrhythmia and slow speed, may persist.

Objective: To determine the influence of maternal trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms on children's physiological response to threat and safety signals during a fear conditioning task in trauma-exposed mothers and children., Method: Participants were African American mother-child dyads (N = 137; children aged 8-13 years). Mothers' trauma history and PTSD symptoms were assessed; Latent Class Analysis (LCA) was conducted from these measures to identify distinct classes. Children reported violence exposure and completed a differential fear conditioning task using fear-potentiated startle (FPS) responses to conditioned danger (CS+) and safety (CS-) signals., Results: Four classes of maternal trauma history and PTSD symptoms emerged: 1) Lower Trauma, 2) Moderate Trauma, 3) High Sexual Abuse, and 4) High Trauma and PTSD Symptoms. Children's FPS to CS + and CS- were tested with maternal class as the between-subjects factor. FPS to the danger signal was not significantly different across maternal classes, but FPS to safety (CS-) was significantly higher for the Lower Trauma and High Trauma and PTSD Symptoms classes than either the Moderate Trauma or the High Sexual Abuse classes., Conclusions: Results indicate that maternal trauma impacts children's ability to modulate fear responses in the presence of a safety signal, independent of the children's own trauma exposure. To our knowledge, this is the first study to demonstrate that children's fear inhibition is impacted by maternal trauma exposure. Prior studies have linked fear inhibition to mental health outcomes, highlighting the need to understand intergenerational modulation of fear learning and physiology., (Copyright © 2020. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

This project examined viewing times and saccades while participants recognize fear and surprise presented in pairs within groups. Roy-Charland, Perron, Young, Boulard, and Chamberland (2015) found that children ages 9-11 were as accurate as adults in recognizing the emotions, and both groups were higher than children ages 3-5. Interestingly, the two groups of children made fewer saccades between the pair of faces and viewed the expressions longer than the adult group. Thus, while accuracy is equal to adults by ages 9-11, visual processing differs. This project added a group of adolescents (14-17) in search of a turning point in visual strategies used in the perceptual-attentional processing of fear and surprise. Results suggest a speed/accuracy tradeoff . In effect, adolescents were as fast as adults, but their accuracy was lower. Furthermore, adolescents made fewer saccades than adults, similar to groups aged 3-5 and 9-11 years old. These results add another piece in the understanding of the developmental trajectory of recognition of facial expressions.

Background: The prevalence of sleep-disordered breathing is high in children with Down syndrome. Although the association between sleep-disordered breathing and developmental delay and behavioral abnormalities are proven among typically developing children, there are few such studies of children with Down syndrome. This study assesses the relationship between the severity of sleep apnea and development and behavioral abnormalities in individuals with Down syndrome., Methods: In a cross-sectional prospective study, 53 children with Down syndrome were assessed for sleep-disordered breathing by overnight polysomnography. Behavior was assessed using Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and developmental quotient (DQ) using Developmental Profile 3. The association between various domains of behavior and development with the Apnea-Hypopnea Index (AHI) was assessed using Spearman rank correlation. Multiple linear regression assessed the independent effects of various factors on development and behavior., Results: Of 53 subjects (three to 11.8 years), 51 (96%) were found to have obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). In both three to five year and six to 12 year age groups, there was a statistically significant positive correlation between the CBCL scores and the AHI (rho = 0.77 and 0.83, respectively). There was a statistically significant negative correlation between the DQ and the AHI (rho = -0.62). In multiple linear regression, AHI was the only independent variable that was associated with CBCL and DQ., Conclusions: This study provides robust evidence that OSA can negatively influence the development and behavior in children with Down syndrome as in typically developing children. Moreover, with increasing severity of OSA, children with Down syndrome have more behavioral abnormalities, especially attention deficit and hyperactivity, and also have poorer development scores., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The formation of memories that contain information about the specific time and place of acquisition, which are commonly referred to as "autobiographical" or "episodic" memories, critically relies on the hippocampus and on a series of interconnected structures located in the medial temporal lobe of the mammalian brain. The observation that adults retain very few of these memories from the first years of their life has fueled a long-standing debate on whether infants can make the types of memories that in adults are processed by the hippocampus-dependent memory system, and whether the hippocampus is involved in learning and memory processes early in life. Recent evidence shows that, even at a time when its circuitry is not yet mature, the infant hippocampus is able to produce long-lasting memories. However, the ability to acquire and store such memories relies on molecular pathways and network-based activity dynamics different from the adult system, which mature with age. The mechanisms underlying the formation of hippocampus-dependent memories during infancy, and the role that experience exerts in promoting the maturation of the hippocampus-dependent memory system, remain to be understood. In this review, we discuss recent advances in our understanding of the ontogeny and the biological correlates of hippocampus-dependent memories., (Copyright © 2021 the authors.)

Patterns of functional connectivity are unique at the individual level, enabling test-retest matching algorithms to identify a subject from among a group using only their functional connectome. Recent findings show that accuracies of these algorithms in children increase with age. Relatedly, the persistence of functional connectivity (FC) patterns across tasks and rest also increases with age. This study investigated the hypothesis that within-subject stability and between-subject similarity of the whole-brain pediatric connectome are developmentally relevant outcomes. Using data from 210 help-seeking children and adolescents, ages 6-21 years (Healthy Brain Network Biobank), we computed whole-brain FC matrices for each participant during two different movies (MovieDM and MovieTP) and two runs of task-free rest (all from a single scan session) and fed these matrices to a test-retest matching algorithm. We replicated the finding that matching accuracies for children and youth (ages 6-21 years) are low (18-44%), and that cross-state and cross-movie accuracies were the lowest. Results also showed that parcellation resolution and the number of volumes used in each matrix affect fingerprinting accuracies. Next, we calculated three measures of whole-connectome stability for each subject: cross-rest (Rest1-Rest2), cross-state (MovieDM-Rest1), and cross-movie (MovieDM-MovieTP), and three measures of within-state between-subject connectome similarity for Rest1, MovieDM, and MovieTP. We show that stability and similarity were correlated, but that these measures were not related to age. A principal component analysis of these measures yielded two components that we used to test for brain-behavior correlations with IQ, general psychopathology, and social skills measures (n = 119). The first component was significantly correlated with the social skills measure (r=-0.26, p = 0.005). Post hoc correlations showed that the social skills measure correlated with both cross-rest stability (r=-0.29, p = 0.001) and with connectome similarity during MovieDM (r=-0.28, p = 0.002). These findings suggest that the stability and similarity of the whole-brain connectome relate to the development of social skills. We infer that the maturation of the functional connectome simultaneously achieves patterns of FC that are distinct at the individual subject level, that are shared across individuals, and that are persistent across states and across runs-features which presumably combine to optimize neural processing during development. Future longitudinal work could reveal the developmental trajectories of stability and similarity of the connectome., (Copyright © 2020. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Purpose: Despite the important role of manual dexterity in child development, the neurobiological mechanisms associated with manual dexterity in childhood remain unclear. We leveraged fixel-based analysis (FBA) to examine the longitudinal association between manual dexterity and the development of white matter structural properties in the corticospinal tract (CST)., Methods: High angular diffusion weighted imaging (HARDI) data were acquired for 44 right-handed typically developing children (22 female) aged 9-13 across two timepoints (timepoint 1: mean age 10.5 years ± 0.5 years, timepoint 2: 11.8 ± 0.5 years). Manual dexterity was assessed using the Grooved Pegboard Test, a widely used measure of manual dexterity. FBA-derived measures of fiber density and morphology were generated for the CST at each timepoint. Connectivity-based fixel enhancement and mixed linear modelling were used to examine the longitudinal association between manual dexterity and white matter structural properties of the CST., Results: Longitudinal mixed effects models showed that greater manual dexterity of the dominant hand was associated with increased fiber cross-section in the contralateral CST. Analyses further demonstrated that the rate of improvement in manual dexterity was associated with the rate of increase in fiber cross-section in the contralateral CST between the two timepoints., Conclusion: Our longitudinal data suggest that the development of manual dexterity in late childhood is associated with maturation of the CST. These findings significantly enhance our understanding of the neurobiological systems that subserve fine motor development and provide an important step toward mapping normative trajectories of fine motor function against microstructural and morphological development in childhood., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest None., (Copyright © 2020. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

The default-mode network (DMN) is a set of functionally connected regions that play crucial roles in internal cognitive processing. Previous resting-state fMRI studies have demonstrated that the intrinsic functional organization of the DMN undergoes remarkable reconfigurations during childhood and adolescence. However, these studies have mainly focused on cross-sectional designs with small sample sizes, limiting the consistency and interpretations of the findings. Here, we used a large sample of longitudinal resting-state fMRI data comprising 305 typically developing children (6-12 years of age at baseline, 491 scans in total) and graph theoretical approaches to delineate the developmental trajectories of the functional architecture of the DMN. For each child, the DMN was constructed according to a prior parcellation with 32 brain nodes. We showed that the overall connectivity increased in strength from childhood to adolescence and became spatially similar to that in the young adult group (N = 61, 18-28 years of age). These increases were primarily located in the midline structures. Global and local network efficiency in the DMN also increased with age, indicating an enhanced capability in parallel information communication within the brain system. Based on the divergent developmental rates of nodal centrality, we identified three subclusters within the DMN, with the fastest rates in the cluster mainly comprising the anterior medial prefrontal cortex and posterior cingulate cortex. Together, our findings highlight the developmental patterns of the functional architecture in the DMN from childhood to adolescence, which has implications for the understanding of network mechanisms underlying the cognitive development of individuals., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors have declared that no conflicting interests exist., (Copyright © 2020. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Background: Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) is linked to a variety of neurodevelopmental challenges, including social functioning (SF) and executive functioning (EF) deficits. These deficits present differently across developmental stages from preschool age to adolescence., Methods: The post hoc analyses described here were conducted on data from 83 preschool-age children with PAE (early childhood group; ages 2.5 to 5.0) and 95 adolescents (49 with PAE, 46 controls; ages 8 to 16). Each child completed EF tasks as part of several prior studies. Parents completed social and communication inventories about their child's abilities. Thirty-three participants from the early childhood group returned for a 4-year follow-up and completed both SF and EF measures., Results: Both the early childhood and adolescent groups with PAE showed deficits in SF and EF. There was a relationship between SF and EF within the adolescent PAE group that was not present in the adolescent control group or the early childhood PAE group. However, at the 4-year follow-up (M age  = 8.45), participants originally in the early childhood PAE group also demonstrated this relationship., Conclusions: These findings support previous research on EF/SF deficits in adolescents with PAE while also addressing a gap in the literature concerning early childhood research on this topic. Additionally, these findings suggest that the relationship between EF and SF deficits may strengthen throughout development. This line of research highlights potential sensitive periods for SF and EF training in children with PAE and suggests that fetal alcohol spectrum disorders programs consider targeting EF training as a component of social skill interventions., (© 2020 by the Research Society on Alcoholism.)

Background: Little is known about the relationship between sensory processing and motor development in very preterm infants. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship of motor development with sensory processing among such infants with developmental delay and those who had typical development at the ages of 8 and 12 months., Methods: This prospective case-control study included 61 preterm infants (31 males, 30 females, mean gestational age: 29.1 weeks). The infants had a gestational age of 32 weeks or less and a current corrected age of 8 months, and they had spent at least 15 days in the neonatal intensive care unit. Motor development was assessed with the Neuro-sensory Motor Developmental Assessment (NSMDA), and sensory processing was evaluated with the Test of Sensory Functions in Infants (TSFI)., Results: There were very strong positive correlations between the gross and fine motor scores of the NSMDA and the TSFI`s subdomain scores and total scores (r=0.85-0.93, p < 0.001). There were also very strong negative correlations between the functional level according to the NSMDA and the subdomain scores and total scores of the TSFI (r=-0.89-0.94, p < 0.001)., Conclusions: The results show that sensory processing and motor development are related parts of the development of very preterm infants. In the early rehabilitation process, therapists should comprehensively take motor and sensory development into consideration.

Background: In children with prenatal alcohol exposure, spatial working memory is affected and brain regions important for spatial working memory performance exhibit atypical neurodevelopment. We therefore hypothesized that children with prenatal alcohol exposure may also have atypical development of spatial working memory ability., Methods: We examined the relation between spatial working memory and age using a cross-sectional developmental trajectory approach in youth with and without histories of heavy prenatal alcohol exposure. The Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery Spatial Working Memory subtest was administered to children 5.0 to 16.9 years old., Results: While the controls and children with prenatal alcohol exposure showed similar performance at younger ages, larger group differences were observed in older children. This effect was replicated in a separate sample., Conclusions: The atypical brain development that has previously been reported in children with heavy prenatal alcohol exposure may have clinically relevant implications for cognitive development; however, longitudinal cognitive analyses are needed., (© 2020 by the Research Society on Alcoholism.)

The LIFE Child study: A cohort study investigating child development in changing environmental conditions The LIFE Child study investigates healthy child development from pregnancy to young adulthood and the development of lifestyle diseases. Objectives: The LIFE Child study investigates healthy child development from pregnancy to young adulthood and the development of lifestyle diseases. Methods: Since study initiation in 2011, 1068 pregnant women and 4658 children have been included in the study. Children are recruited until the age of 16 years. Follow-up visits take place once per year. Assessments include physical examinations, interviews, questionnaires, standardized tests, and biological samples including genetic analysis. Results: We found significant associations between socio-economic status and health behaviour, between the weight of mothers and their children and between excessive media use and psychological complaints. Further projects dealt with the creation of references curves and the evaluation of new research methods. Conclusions: The study provides important insights into the interplay between the living environment, behaviour and child health.

Aim: Define relationships of early feeding performance with feeding outcomes in childhood, while assessing the predictive validity of the Neonatal Eating Outcome Assessment., Study Design: Ninety-one infants (44 preterm infants born ≤32 weeks at term-equivalent age and 47 full-term infants within 4 days of life) had feeding evaluated using the Neonatal Eating Outcome Assessment and the Neonatal Oral Motor Assessment Scale (NOMAS). At 4 years of age, 39 of these infants (22 preterm infants and 17 full-term infants; 43% follow-up rate) had parent-report measures of feeding conducted using the Behavioral Pediatrics Feeding Assessment Scale (BPFAS) and Pediatric Eating Assessment Tool (PediEAT)., Results: Lower Neonatal Eating Outcome Assessment scores were related to higher PediEAT scores (p = 0.01; r = -0.44), but were not related to BPFAS scores (p = 0.17; r = -0.23). Relationships were not detected between the NOMAS and BPFAS (p = 0.35; r = 0.17), and relationships between the NOMAS and PediEAT failed to reach significance (p = 0.06; r = 0.34). There was a relationship between the BPFAS and PediEAT scores at 4 years (p < 0.001; r = 0.66). Preterm infants performed poorer than full-term infants on the Neonatal Eating Outcome Assessment (p < 0.001) and NOMAS (p < 0.001), but no differences were detected in preterm compared to full-term performance on the BPFAS (p = 0.87) and PediEAT scores (p = 0.27)., Discussion: Neonatal feeding performance is an important predictor of feeding outcomes at 4 years of age. The Neonatal Eating Outcome Assessment has predictive validity, and the Pediatric Eating Assessment Tool has concurrent validity with relationships to another childhood feeding tool., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

This study examined the development of ability to recognize familiar face in drawings in infants aged 6-8 months. In Experiment 1, we investigated infants' recognition of their mothers' faces by testing their visual preference for their mother's face over a stranger's face under three conditions: photographs, cartoons produced by online software that simplifies and enhances the contours of facial features of line drawings, and veridical line drawings. We found that 7- and 8-month-old infants showed a significant preference for their mother's face in photographs and cartoons, but not in veridical line drawings. In contrast, 6-month-old infants preferred their mother's face only in photographs. In Experiment 2, we investigated a visual preference for an upright face over an inverted face for cartoons and veridical line drawings in 6- to 8-month-old infants, finding that infants aged older than 6 months showed the inversion effect in face preference in both cartoons and veridical line drawings. Our results imply that the ability to utilize the enhanced information of a face to recognize familiar faces may develop aged around 7 months of age., (© 2020 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Second-order motor planning of grasping movements is usually measured using tasks that focus on the relative (dis)comfort of end posture of the arm and hand regardless of the objective outcome of performance. This may underestimate the ability for forward planning in young children. In the current study, we aimed to examine the developmental mechanisms of motor planning in children using a task that necessitates second-order motor planning for its successful completion. We tested 311 children (aged 5-12 years) who were instructed to grasp and rotate a hexagonal knob over 60°, 120°, 180°, or 240°. The 180° and 240° rotation conditions necessitated adjustment of the preferred start grip for successful task completion. We examined successful or unsuccessful task completion, reaction time (RT), and movement time (MT) as a function of task demands (i.e., rotation angle) and age. Results showed that most children of all ages were able to successfully complete the task in the 180° rotation condition. In the most demanding 240° rotation condition, many children had difficulty in completing the task, but successful task completion increased with age. Time course analysis showed increased RT and MT with increasing task demands. Furthermore, whereas RT decreased with age for each rotation angle, MT remained stable with the exception of an increase in MT for the most demanding rotation condition. Together, these results exemplify that children aged 5-12 years are indeed able to engage in forward planning. With development, second-order motor planning proficiency increases, especially for more demanding movements, and the process becomes more efficient., (Copyright © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Amylin is co-secreted with insulin by pancreatic β-cells in response to a meal and produced by neurons in discrete hypothalamic brain areas. Leptin is proportionally secreted by the adipose tissue. Both hormones control food intake and energy homeostasis post-weaning in rodents. While amylin's main site of action is located in the area postrema (AP) and leptin's is located in the mediobasal hypothalamus, both hormones can also influence the other's signaling pathway; amylin has been shown enhance hypothalamic leptin signaling, and amylin signaling in the AP may rely on functional leptin receptors to modulate its effects. These two hormones also play major roles during other life periods. During pregnancy, leptin levels rise as a result of an increase in fat depot resulting in gestational leptin-resistance to prepare the maternal body for the metabolic needs during fetal development. The role of amylin is far less studied during pregnancy and lactation, though amylin levels seem to be elevated during pregnancy relative to insulin. Whether amylin and leptin interact during pregnancy and lactation remains to be assessed. Lastly, during brain development, amylin and leptin are major regulators of cell birth during embryogenesis and act as neurotrophic factors in the neonatal period. This review will highlight the role of amylin and leptin, and their possible interaction, during these dynamic time periods of pregnancy, lactation, and early development., (Copyright © 2019 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Research examining children's emotion judgments has generally used nonsocial tasks that do not resemble children's daily experiences in judging others' emotions. Here, younger children (4- to 6-year-olds) and older children (7- to 9-year-olds) participated in a socially interactive task where an experimenter opened boxes and made an expression (happy, sad, scared, or disgust) based on the object inside. Children guessed which of four objects (a sticker, a broken toy car, a spider, or toy poop) was in the box. Subsequently, children opened a set of boxes and generated facial expressions for the experimenter. Children also labeled the emotion elicited by the objects and static facial expressions. Children's ability to guess which object caused the experimenter's expression increased with age but did not predict their ability to generate a recognizable expression. Children's demonstration of emotion knowledge also varied across tasks, suggesting that when emotion judgment tasks more closely mimic their daily experiences, children demonstrate broader emotion knowledge., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Early childhood is characterized by vast changes in behaviors supported by the hippocampus and an increased susceptibility of the hippocampus to environmental influences. Thus, it is an important time to investigate the development of the hippocampus. Existing research suggests subregions of the hippocampus (i.e., head, body, tail) have dissociable functions and that the relations between subregions and cognitive abilities vary across development. However, longitudinal research examining age-related changes in subregions in humans, particularly during early childhood (i.e., 4-6 years), is limited. Using a large sample of 184 healthy 4- to 8-year-old children, the present study is the first to characterize developmental changes in hippocampal subregion volume from early- to mid-childhood. Results reveal differential developmental trajectories in hippocampal head, body, and tail during this period. Specifically, head volume showed a quadratic pattern of change, and both body and tail showed linear increases, resulting in a pattern of cubic change for total hippocampal volume. Further, main effects of sex on hippocampal volume (males > females) and hemispheric differences in developmental trajectories were observed. These findings provide an improved understanding of the development of the hippocampus and have important implications for research investigating a range of cognitive abilities and behaviors., (© 2020 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Social competence refers to the ability to engage in meaningful interactions with others. It is a crucial skill potentially malleable to interventions. Nevertheless, it remains difficult to select which children, which periods in a child's life, and which underlying skills form optimal targets for interventions. Development of social competence is complex to characterize because (a) it is by nature context- dependent; (b) it is subserved by multiple relevant processes that develop at different times in a child's life; and (c) over the years multiple, possibly conflicting, ways have been coined to index a child's social competence. The current paper elaborates upon a theoretical model of social competence developed by Rose-Krasnor (Rose- Krasnor, 1997; Rose-Krasnor and Denham, 2009), and it makes concrete how underlying skills and the variety of contexts of social interaction are both relevant dimensions of social competence that might change over development. It then illustrates how the cohorts and work packages in the Consortium on Individual Development each provide empirical contributions necessary for testing this model on the development of social competence., (Copyright © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Visual foraging tasks require participants to search for multiple targets among numerous distractors. Foraging paradigms enable insights into the function of visual attention above what has been learned from traditional single-target search paradigms. These include attentional orienting over time and search strategies involving target selection from different target types. To date, only a handful of studies have been conducted on the development of foraging abilities. Here, the foraging of five age groups-children aged 6, 9, 12, and 15 years and adults-was measured, as was their performance on various tasks assessing four subdomains of executive functions: inhibition, attentional flexibility, working memory, and problem solving. Executive functions consist of a complex network of independent but interconnected cognitive processes that regulate action-orienting and goal-directed behavior and have been shown to be connected to visual attention and attentional orienting. Our results show that foraging abilities improve dramatically from 6 to 12 years of age, when adult levels of foraging have been reached. This is evident from reduced foraging times, increasingly frequent switches between target types, lower switch costs, and reduced error rates. In addition, partial least squares structural equation modeling reveals that the age differences on the foraging tasks are predominantly indirect effects through executive functions. In other words, the development of successful foraging abilities is highly correlated with the maturation of executive functions., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objective: To examine the influence of exclusive breastfeeding on infant development among 3-month-old infants in a Chinese population. Methods: Mothers and their 3-month-old infants were recruited from four maternal and child health hospitals from April 2018 to March 2019. Based on the infants' feeding patterns, the mother-infant dyads were divided into two groups: exclusive breastfeeding and formula feeding groups. Infant development was evaluated using the Chinese version of the Ages and Stages Questionnaires, 3rd edition (ASQ-C), and maternal depression, parenting confidence, and infant temperament were also assessed using the relevant scales/questionnaires. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was conducted to explore the effects of feeding patterns on infant development at 3 months. Results: The data from 417 mother-infant dyads were analyzed. For the breastfeeding group and formula feeding group, the risk of developmental delay measured by the ASQ-C was 4.1% (10/244) and 9.3% (16/173) respectively for the communication domain; 5.7% (14/244) and 8.1% (14/173) for problem-solving domain and 6.2% (15/244) and 12.1% (21/173) for personal-social domain, respectively. Compared with exclusive breastfeeding, formula feeding was a risk factor for delayed development of communication (adjusted odd ratio [aOR] = 2.60, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.42-4.75) problem-solving (aOR = 1.91, 95% CI = 1.06-3.45), and personal-social skills (aOR = 1.96, 95% CI = 1.12-3.42). Conclusions: Exclusive breastfeeding is important for infant communication, problem solving, and social interaction at the age of 3 months. Formula-fed infants may be at a higher risk of developmental delay than exclusively breast-fed infants. It is necessary to encourage mothers to establish and continuous breastfeeding.

Non-adjacent dependencies (NADs) are important building blocks for language and extracting them from the input is a fundamental part of language acquisition. Prior event-related potential (ERP) studies revealed changes in the neural signature of NAD learning between infancy and adulthood, suggesting a developmental shift in the learning route for NADs. The present study aimed to specify which brain regions are involved in this developmental shift and whether this shift extends to NAD learning in the non-linguistic domain. In two experiments, 2- and 3-year-old German-learning children were familiarized with either Italian sentences or tone sequences containing NADs and subsequently tested with NAD violations, while functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) data were recorded. Results showed increased hemodynamic responses related to the detection of linguistic NAD violations in the left temporal, inferior frontal, and parietal regions in 2-year-old children, but not in 3-year-old children. A different developmental trajectory was found for non-linguistic NADs, where 3-year-old, but not 2-year-old children showed evidence for the detection of non-linguistic NAD violations. These results confirm a developmental shift in the NAD learning route and point to distinct mechanisms underlying NAD learning in the linguistic and the non-linguistic domain., (Copyright © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: The rate of premature births has significantly increased, and it is important to determine its effects. The objective of this study is to determine the psychomotor development profile of a group of children born prematurely, at the age of 4, 5 and 6, and to compare them with a group of full-term birth children, in order to detect any differences., Patients and Methods: The sample consisted of 98 participants, evenly distributed into two groups, premature and full-term born children. A prospective longitudinal observational analytical study, with a design of cases and controls, was carried out. For some analyses, the separation into early pre-term, moderate pre-term, and late pre-term was considered. The evaluations were performed using the McCarthy Scale of Aptitudes and Psychomotor skills for children., Results: The data shows achievements within the middle intervals. However, there are more difficulties in development at 4 years in the group of premature children, according to gestational age. Early pre-term (gestational age less than 32 weeks) showed significantly lower scores compared to moderate and late pre-term, mainly at 6 years, and with those born at term, at 4 and 6 years., Conclusions: Development difficulties are greater at a lower gestational age, and may affect the Primary Education stage. The need to monitor all premature children in the preschool stage is suggested, as well as to evaluate more specific skills and continue with the care from specialist teams., (Copyright © 2020 Asociación Española de Pediatría. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.)

Hebb repetition learning is a fundamental learning mechanism for sequential knowledge, such as language. However, still little is known about its development. This fMRI study examined the developmental neural substrates of Hebb repetition learning and its relation with reading abilities in a group of 49 children aged from 6 to 12 years. In the scanner, the children carried out an immediate serial recall task for syllable sequences of which some sequences were repeated several times over the course of the session (Hebb repetition sequences). The rate of Hebb repetition learning was associated with modulation of activity in the medial temporal lobe. Importantly, for the age range studied here, learning-related medial temporal lobe modulation was independent of the age of the children. Furthermore, we observed an association between regular and irregular word reading abilities and the neural substrates of Hebb repetition learning. This study suggests that the functional neural substrates of Hebb repetition learning do not undergo further maturational changes in school age children, possibly because they are sustained by implicit sequential learning mechanisms which are considered to be fully developed by that age. Importantly, the neural substrates of Hebb learning remain significant determinants of children's learning abilities, such as reading., (© 2020 The Authors. Human Brain Mapping published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

One of the hallmarks of ownership is the right to control one's property. Living beings thus pose an interesting puzzle for ownership, since they have some capacity to decide what happens to themselves-they can direct their own motion, pursue their own goals, and make their own decisions. Recent work has shown that adults consider this autonomy to be the key factor in determining whether a human (or human-like) being can be owned. However, little is known about how children reason about the ownership of living beings. Across three experiments we show that children (ages 4-7) use principles of control and autonomy to reason about the ownership of familiar and novel animals. At all ages tested, children were more likely to say that a typically wild animal (e.g., a bear) was owned if a homeowner had controlled its movements by putting it in a cage, rather than simply standing near it in their yard (Experiment 1). Children also used this cue of control to predict whether novel animals were owned (Experiment 2)-and for these unfamiliar animals, the effect of control was even larger. Finally, Experiment 3 found that children's judgments were not specifically driven by the use of a cage to control the animal, but also extended to animals that inherently had the ability to escape (e.g., fly or jump). These autonomous animals were judged as non-owned, while those that could not escape were judged as owned. The use of these principles was evident at all ages, but became stronger with age, particularly when considering novel animals. These are the first studies, to our knowledge, to investigate the development of reasoning about the ownership of animals, and they suggest that, like adults, children consider autonomy an essential factor in the ownership of living things., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The objectives of this project were to systematically review the impact of mother-infant interaction on the development of infants 12 months or younger and determine factors that mediate this relationship and early development. We systematically reviewed the literature and identified 21 papers which fulfilled inclusion and exclusion criteria. The majority of the studies found significant association between mother-infant interaction and language, cognition, motor, and social development during the first year of life. Only seven studies assessed motor development and four studies found significant relationship between motor development and mother-infant interaction. Prematurity, infant age, multiples births, maternal anxiety, maternal opioid exposure, history of foster care, and criminal record were the only factors found to mediate the relationship between mother-infant interaction and social, cognitive, and language development. The quality of the interactions between a mother and infant can both positively and negatively influence cognitive, language, and social outcomes during the first year of life. Additional research is needed to determine the influence of mother-infant interaction on motor development. Future research is needed on the efficacy of interventions designed to alter mother-infant interaction with the ultimate goal of achieving positive developmental outcomes during the first year of life.

Purpose of Review: This review summarizes studies highlighting perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and their effects on the placenta, pregnancy outcomes, and child health. It highlights human population-based associations as well as in vitro-based experimental data to inform an understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying these health effects. Among the mechanisms by which PFAS may induce toxicity is via their interaction with the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs), nuclear receptors that regulate lipid metabolism and placental functions important to healthy pregnancies, as well as fetal and child development., Recent Findings: In utero exposure to prevalent environmental contaminants such as PFAS is associated with negative health outcomes during pregnancy, birth outcomes, and later in life. Specifically, PFAS have been associated with increased incidence of gestational diabetes, childhood obesity, preeclampsia, and fetal growth restriction. In terms of placental molecular mechanisms underlying these associations, studies demonstrate that PFAS interfere with trophoblast lipid homeostasis, inflammation, and invasion. Moreover these effects could be mediated in part by the interaction between PFAS and PPARs, as well as other biological mechanisms. This review summarizes how PFAS, critical environmental contaminants, may contribute to diseases of pregnancy as well as early and later child health.

During the perinatal period in mammals when active sleep predominates, skeletal muscles twitch throughout the body. We have hypothesized that myoclonic twitches provide unique insight into the functional status of the human infant's nervous system. However, assessments of the rate and patterning of twitching have largely been restricted to infant rodents. Thus, here we analyze twitching in human infants over the first seven postnatal months. Using videography and behavioral measures of twitching during bouts of daytime sleep, we find at all ages that twitching across the body occurs predominantly in bursts at intervals of 10 s or less. We also find that twitching is expressed differentially across the body and with age. For example, twitching of the face and head is most prevalent shortly after birth and decreases over the first several months. In addition, twitching of the hands and feet occurs at a consistently higher rate than does twitching elsewhere in the body. Finally, the patterning of twitching becomes more structured with age, with twitches of the left and right hands and feet exhibiting the strongest coupling. Altogether, these findings support the notion that twitches can provide a unique source of information about typical and atypical sensorimotor development., (© 2020 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

(1) Background: The aim of this study was to design and analyze the validity of the SMACC (Scale to Measure Aquatic Competence in Children) to evaluate aquatic competence in three- to six-year-old children. In addition, the relation between real competence obtained with the SMACC and perceived aquatic competence was verified as well as its differences according to sex and age. (2) Methods: Content validation was performed through the consensus of nine experts using the Delphi technique, and comprehension validity was determined through a pilot study on a sample of 122 children. An exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis was performed with two independent samples of 384 and 444 school children between three and six years old, respectively. (3) Results: After the pertinent adjustments, the final questionnaire comprised 17 items, which showed a good fit for both comprehension and content validity. The results of the exploratory and confirmatory analyses support the use of three dimensions in aquatic competence: motor, socio-affective, and cognitive. The correlations support construct validity showing a positive relation with perceived aquatic competence. (4) Conclusions: These promising validity data are discussed from a global and integrative perspective in relation to the improvement of children's development in the aquatic environment during the early stages of their lives.

The development of successful social-cognitive abilities requires one to track, accumulate, and integrate knowledge of other people's mental states across time. Regions of the brain differ in their temporal scale (i.e., a cortical temporal hierarchy) and those receptive to long temporal windows may facilitate social-cognitive abilities; however, the cortical development of long timescale processing remains to be investigated. The current study utilized naturalistic viewing to examine cortical development of long timescale processing and its relation to social-cognitive abilities in middle childhood - a time of expanding social spheres and increasing social-cognitive abilities. We found that, compared to adults, children exhibited reduced low-frequency power in the temporo-parietal junction (TPJ) and reduced specialization for long timescale processing within the TPJ and other regions broadly implicated in the default mode network and higher-order visual processing. Further, specialization for long timescales within the right dorsal medial prefrontal cortex became more 'adult-like' as a function of children's comprehension of character mental states. These results suggest that cortical temporal hierarchy in middle childhood is immature and may be important for an accurate representation of complex naturalistic social stimuli during this age., (Copyright © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Adults perceive a continuum of emotional facial expressions categorically rather than continuously. Categorical perception is thought to be adaptive and functional, allowing for inferences that inform behavior. To date, studies have demonstrated categorical perception of some emotional facial expressions in infants. However, a recent study reported that 12-month-olds infants do not perceive facial emotional expressions categorically across a happy-sad continuum. In contrast, toddlers at 3.5 years of age appear to use categorical perception along the happy-sad continuum. Using a novel paradigm that employed the use of a looking-time discrimination task and an explicit identification task, this study measured 26-month-old's identification of faces and ability to discriminate between faces along a happy-sad continuum. Results suggest that 26-month-olds perceive facial expressions categorically along the happy-sad continuum.

Background: Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are prescribed in 2-8% during pregnancy. Whether prenatal exposure to SSRIs has long-term effects on the children's development is unknown., Aim: The aim of this study was to determine the effect of prenatal exposure to SSRIs on children's cognitive, motor, and behavioral outcomes at 2.5 years, adjusted for maternal depression and anxiety., Methods: In a prospective, longitudinal cohort-study we included 111 pregnant women treated either or not with an SSRI. We examined cognitive and motor development of their children at 2.5 years, using the Bayley Scale of Infant and Toddler Development, 3rd Edition, and measured emotional and behavioral problems using the parent-rated Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). Maternal depression and anxiety was determined during pregnancy and at the children's assessment. Differences of normed cognitive, motor, and behavioral scores between SSRI-exposed and non-SSRI-exposed children were tested using multiple linear regression analyses., Results: We examined 102 children. SSRI-exposed children had lower scaled scores on cognition and gross motor development than non-SSRI-exposed children: 9.0 ± 1.4 (mean ± SD) versus 9.9 ± 1.7 [P = 0.004], and 7.9 ± 2.2 versus 9.0 ± 2.5 [P = 0.01], respectively. Differences remained significant after adjusting for maternal depression and anxiety and other confounders in various models (mean difference for cognition 0.8 to 0.9 points, for gross motor 1.1 to 1.2 points). Only after adjusting for severity of maternal anxiety, differences in gross motor scores lost significance., Conclusions: Prenatal exposure to SSRIs is associated with poorer cognitive and gross motor development of the children at 2.5 years. Effects on gross motor development disappeared after correction for severity of maternal anxiety., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest None., (Copyright © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

A longitudinal study of a sample of women and their offspring from two urban areas (N = 233) was conducted to test whether maternal prenatal anxiety trajectories from early to late pregnancy are associated with 12-month infant developmental outcomes, independent of maternal postpartum anxiety symptoms, prenatal and postpartum depressive symptoms, parity, birth outcomes and maternal education. Three types of maternal anxiety trajectories over the course of pregnancy were identified and labeled increasing, decreasing, and stable-low. Only increasing maternal prenatal anxiety was associated with 12-month infant outcomes, specifically lower Bayley-III scores on receptive language and gross motor skills. Maternal anxiety measured at each individual timepoint in pregnancy was not associated with infant Bayley-III outcomes, highlighting the importance of examining trajectories of maternal affect., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: The neurotoxicity of general anesthesia to the developing human brains is controversial. We assessed the associations between surgery under general anesthesia in infancy and development at age 1 year using the Japan Environment and Children's Study (JECS), a large-scale birth cohort study., Methods: In the JECS, 103,062 pregnancies and 104,065 fetuses were enrolled between January 2011 and March 2014. Of the 100,144 registered live births, we excluded preterm or post-term infants, multiple births, and infants with chromosomal anomalies and/or anomalies of the head or brain. Data on surgical procedures under general anesthesia in infancy were collected from self-administered questionnaires by parents at the 1-year follow-up. Developmental delay at age 1 year was assessed using the Japanese translation of the Ages and Stages Questionnaires, Third Edition (J-ASQ-3), comprising five developmental domains., Results: Among the 64,141 infants included, 746 infants had surgery under general anesthesia once, 90 twice, and 71 three or more times. The percentage of developmental delay in the five domains of the J-ASQ-3 significantly increased with the number of surgical procedures. After adjusting for potential confounding factors, the risk of developmental delays in all five domains was significantly increased in infants who had surgery under general anesthesia three times or more (adjusted odds ratios: for communication domain 3.32; gross motor domain 4.69; fine motor domain 2.99; problem solving domain 2.47; personal-social domain 2.55)., Conclusions: Surgery under general anesthesia in infancy was associated with an increased likelihood of developmental delay in all five domains of the J-ASQ-3, especially the gross motor domain at age 1 year. The neurodevelopment with the growth should be further evaluated among the children who had surgery under general anesthesia., Trial Registration: UMIN Clinical Trials Registry (number: UMIN000030786 ).

The corpus callosum (CC) is the largest connective pathway in the human brain, linking cerebral hemispheres. There is longstanding debate in the scientific literature whether sex differences are evident in this structure, with many studies indicating the structure is larger in females. However, there are few data pertaining to this issue in infancy, during which time the most rapid developmental changes to the CC occur. In this study, we examined longitudinal brain imaging data collected from 104 infants at ages 6, 12, and 24 months. We identified sex differences in brain-size adjusted CC area and thickness characterized by a steeper rate of growth in males versus females from ages 6-24 months. In contrast to studies of older children and adults, CC size was larger for male compared to female infants. Based on diffusion tensor imaging data, we found that CC thickness is significantly associated with underlying microstructural organization. However, we observed no sex differences in the association between microstructure and thickness, suggesting that the role of factors such as axon density and/or myelination in determining CC size is generally equivalent between sexes. Finally, we found that CC length was negatively associated with nonverbal ability among females., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest None., (Copyright © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

This article provides an overview of P300 research from infancy through adolescence. First, a brief historical overview is provided highlighting seminal studies that began exploration of the P300 component in developmental groups. Overall, these studies suggest that the P300 can be detected in children and appears to reflect similar cognitive processes to those in adults; however, it is significantly delayed in its latency to peak. Second, two striking findings from developmental research are the lack of a clear P300 component in infancy and differential electrophysiological responses to novel, unexpected stimuli in children, adolescents, and adults. Third, contemporary questions are described, which include P300-like components in infancy, alteration of P300 in atypically developing groups, relations between P300 and behavior, individual differences of P300, and neural substrates of P300 across development. Finally, we conclude with comments regarding the power of a developmental perspective and suggestions for important issues that should be addressed in the next 50 years of P300 research., (© 2019 Society for Psychophysiological Research.)

Existing studies examining the development of temporal order memory show that although young children perform above chance on some tasks assessing temporal order memory, there are significant age-related differences across childhood. Yet, the trajectory of children's ability to retrieve temporal order remains unclear as existing conclusions are drawn from cross-sectional studies. The present study utilized an accelerated longitudinal design in order to characterize the developmental trajectory of temporal order memory in a sample of 200 healthy 4- to 8-year-old children. Specifically, two tasks commonly used in the literature were tested longitudinally: a primacy judgment task and an ordering task. Results revealed that, even after controlling for differences in IQ, linearly increasing trajectories characterized age-related change in performance for both tasks; however, change appeared greater for the temporal ordering task. Further, performance on the two tasks was positively related, suggesting shared underlying mechanisms. These findings provide a more thorough understanding of temporal order memory in early to middle childhood by characterizing the developmental trajectories of two commonly used tasks and have important implications for our understanding of children's developing memory more broadly.

The study evaluated the effect of task difficulty on feedback processing as measured by the feedback related event related potentials (ERPs) in 7-11-years-old children. Children completed two declarative learning tasks that differed in the number of object-name pairs they were required to learn, deeming the task with twice as many pairs as more difficult. EEG was recorded during the tasks, and event related potentials time-locked to the feedback presentation were analyzed. Additionally, Accuracy was measured in test block at the end of each task. Behaviorally, children achieved better accuracy on the easy task than on the difficult task. In line with previous findings in adults, the FRN was not found sensitive to task difficulty. However, a feedback-related P300 and a fronto-central positivity that followed the FRN were found sensitive to task difficulty such that their amplitudes were larger in the easy task. This pattern is opposite to that reported previously in adults and may reflect the effect of motivation on attention allocation in children., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Working memory function changes across development and varies across individuals. The patterns of behavior and brain function that track individual differences in working memory during human development, however, are not well understood. Here, we establish associations between working memory, other cognitive abilities, and functional MRI (fMRI) activation in data from over 11,500 9- to 10-year-old children (both sexes) enrolled in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study, an ongoing longitudinal study in the United States. Behavioral analyses reveal robust relationships between working memory, short-term memory, language skills, and fluid intelligence. Analyses relating out-of-scanner working memory performance to memory-related fMRI activation in an emotional n -back task demonstrate that frontoparietal activity during a working memory challenge indexes working memory performance. This relationship is domain specific, such that fMRI activation related to emotion processing during the emotional n -back task, inhibitory control during a stop-signal task (SST), and reward processing during a monetary incentive delay (MID) task does not track memory abilities. Together, these results inform our understanding of individual differences in working memory in childhood and lay the groundwork for characterizing the ways in which they change across adolescence. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Working memory is a foundational cognitive ability that changes over time and varies across individuals. Here, we analyze data from over 11,500 9- to 10-year-olds to establish relationships between working memory, other cognitive abilities, and frontoparietal brain activity during a working memory challenge, but not during other cognitive challenges. Our results lay the groundwork for assessing longitudinal changes in working memory and predicting later academic and other real-world outcomes., (Copyright © 2020 the authors.)

Children in situations of destitution who become institutionalized commonly display developmental disorders, including delayed growth. The aim was to evaluate the environmental quality of the casas cuna of the Department of Chuquisaca (Plurinational state of Bolivia) in children aged 0 to 2 years old after receiving an early stimulation program based on psychomotor therapy. Thirty-six children who were institutionalized at shelter homes in the Department of Chuquisaca were selected to receive sessions of psychomotricity over a five-month period. The Infant/Toddler Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (IT-HOME) scale and the Attachment During Stress Scale (ADS) were used. The adult-child relationship with factors of responsiveness (-0.89; p = 0.037), acceptance (0.57; p = 0.024), organization (-1.03; p < 0.001), learning material (-2.57; p < 0.001) and involvement (-1.92; p < 0.001) scored below expectations, showing that environmental indicators are a poor stimulation for children growing up in shelter homes. Improvements were found in the children's development after receiving this therapy. In conclusion, an early stimulation program based on psychomotor therapy over five months provided favorable results for the acquisition of skills for communication, motor development and social skills, which positively affect the psychomotor development.

This study examined the simultaneous effects of relative age and biological maturity status upon player selection in an English professional soccer academy. A total of 202 players from the U9 to U16 age groups, over an eight-year period (total of 566 observations), had their relative age (birth quarter) and biological maturity (categorised as late, on-time or early maturing based upon the Khamis-Roche method of percentage of predicted adult height at time of observation) recorded. Players born in the first birth quarter of the year (54.8%) were over-represented across all age groups. A selection bias towards players advanced in maturity status for chronological age emerged in U12 players and increased with age; 0% of players in the U15 and U16 age group were categorised as late maturing. A clear maturity selection bias for early maturing players was, however, only apparent when the least conservative criterion for estimating maturity status was applied (53.8% early and 1.9% late maturing in the U16 age group). Professional football academies need to recognise relative age and maturation as independent constructs that exist and operate independently. Thus, separate strategies should perhaps be designed to address the respective selection biases, to better identify, retain and develop players.

In everyday contexts, children must respond to both self-related constraints (their own skills and abilities) and environmental constraints (external obstacles and goals). How do young children simultaneously accommodate these to support skilled and flexible behaviour? We used walking in a complex environment as a testbed for two hypotheses. Hypothesis 1: children will accommodate the self-related constraint of high foot placement variability via dynamic scaling. Hypothesis 2: children will plan ahead, even in complex environments. In our task, 3- to 5-year-olds and adults walked over obstacle sequences of varying complexity. We measured foot placement around the first obstacle in the sequence. Hypothesis 1 was partially supported. In simple, single obstacle environments, children engaged in dynamic scaling like adults. Those with more variable foot placement left greater margins of error between the feet and the obstacle. However, in complex, multiple obstacle settings, children employed large, un-tailored margins of error. This parallels other multisensory tasks in which children do not rely on the relative variability of sensory inputs. Hypothesis 2 was supported. Like adults, children planned ahead for environmental constraints. Children adjusted foot placement around the first obstacle depending on the upcoming obstacle sequence. In doing so, they demonstrate surprisingly sophisticated planning. We, therefore, show that in the motor domain, even very young children simultaneously control both self-related and environmental constraints. This allows flexible, safe and efficient behaviour.

Aim: The early detection of autistic tendencies in children is essential for providing proper care and education. The auditory steady-state response (ASSR) provides a passive, non-invasive technique for assessing neural synchrony at specific response frequencies in many mental disorders, including autism spectrum disorder (ASD), but few studies have investigated its use in young children. This study investigated the ASSR at 20 Hz and 40 Hz in typically developing (TD) children and children with ASD aged 5-7 years., Methods: The participants were 23 children with ASD and 32 TD children aged 5-7 years. Using a custom-made magnetoencephalography device, we measured ASSR at 20 Hz and 40 Hz, compared the results between groups, and evaluated the association with intellectual function as measured by Kaufmann Assessment Battery for Children., Results: Responses to 20 Hz and 40 Hz were clearly detected in both groups with no significant difference identified. Consistent with previous findings, right dominance of the 40-Hz ASSR was observed in both groups. In the TD children, the right-side 40-Hz ASSR was correlated with age. The Kaufmann Assessment Battery for Children score was correlated with the left-side 40-Hz ASSR in both groups., Conclusion: Right-dominant ASSR was successfully detected in young TD children and children with ASD. No difference in ASSR was observed between the children with ASD and the TD children, although the right-side 40-Hz ASSR increased with age only in the TD children. Left-side 40-Hz ASSR was associated with intelligence score in both groups., (© 2020 The Authors Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences © 2020 Japanese Society of Psychiatry and Neurology.)

The aim of the study was to examine whether cognitive skills are related to persistence. Thus, children's (N = 157, mean age: 5.9 years) persistent and non-persistent behaviours (i.e., cheating and off-task) were assessed in an unsolvable task. Additionally, we assessed children's executive functions and temperament. Analysis for persistence showed that cognitive inhibition and cognitive flexibility predicted children's persistent behaviour, beyond age and temperament. Analyses for non-persistent behaviours revealed that temperament and weak executive functions predicted cheating, while age predicted off-task behaviour. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? So far, persistence has been conceptualized as a temperamental sub-dimension of self-regulation. What does this study add? A child's persistence depends not only on temperament but also on cognitive inhibition and cognitive flexibility. There are qualitative differences between the two non-persistent behaviours cheating and off-task. While cheating is related to weaker cognitive skills, off-task behaviour seems mainly age-related., (© 2019 The British Psychological Society.)

For achieving the good health and wellbeing for all children, the main role of pediatrician and other health care professionals is to follow their development. We implemented developmental monitoring for 465 children at the age of 12 - 60 months, in the period of 4 years (2016 - 2019), using standard algorithm in which start is always with child history. It should be comprehensive, and must include a detailed prenatal, perinatal, and postnatal history. Obtained results showed that 16.13% of participants have some serious illness in family history, and the same percentage (16.13%) manifested serious perinatal problems which imposed the support in intensive care unit. Breastfeed are 49,46 % of children. Only 7,53 % are not completely vaccinated. About the parameters for the development, we obtained that 11,83 % were not walking at the time of the assessment, and 65,81 % were not speaking. Toilet control was negative, and in 75,27 % they still were wearing diapers. Allergic manifestations at the time when the assessment was done is present in 8,60%. Finally, serious illness in child past history was positive in 19.35 % of evaluated sample. We concluded that a good history is needed and indispensable in the assessment process, particularly when exogenous causes are identified as the risk for the developmental delay. Obtained positive answers are directory for further investigation as well to correlate risk-consequences relationship.

Introduction: This study aims to describe the psychomotor development of children, the offspring of Chilean and Haitian parents, and who attend the local kindergartens., Methods: The design of this study was a descriptive and cross-sectional study. The study population was children 3 to 24 months-old, belonging to kindergartens, evaluated with the Psychomotor Development Assessment Scale (EEDP) regarding psychomotor development profile for the domains of language, socialization, coordination, and motor skills. A questionnaire was administered to the parents to determine the socioeconomic level, educational level, and parenting skills., Results: Twenty-four infants, 12 children of Chilean parents, and 12 children of Haitian parents were evaluated. The EEDP classification (p = 0.299) did not show significant differences between both groups. In children of Chilean parents, 25% (3/12) classified as delay, while 75% (9/12) as normal. On the other hand, for children of Haitian parents, 8.3% (1/12) classified as risk, while 91.7% (11/12) as normal. There are significant differences in coordination (p = 0.006), in which Haitian children achieved better performance compared to the Chilean., Conclusions: It is necessary to emphasize every domain of infant psychomotor development and the multiple sociocultural variables that can influence this. Current evaluation methods do not presently have an intercultural character.

Rapidly and accurately processing information from faces is a critical human function that is known to improve with developmental age. Understanding the underlying drivers of this improvement remains a contentious question, with debate continuing as to the presence of early vs. late maturation of face-processing mechanisms. Recent behavioural evidence suggests an important 'hallmark' of expert face processing - the face inversion effect - is present in very young children, yet neural support for this remains unclear. To address this, we conducted a detailed investigation of the neural dynamics of face processing in children spanning a range of ages (6-11 years) and adults. Uniquely, we applied multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) to the electroencephalogram signal (EEG) to test for the presence of a distinct neural profile associated with canonical upright faces when compared both to other objects (houses) and to inverted faces. Results revealed robust discrimination profiles, at the individual level, of differentiated neural activity associated with broad face categorization and further with its expert processing, as indexed by the face inversion effect, from the youngest ages tested. This result is consistent with an early functional maturation of broad face processing mechanisms. Yet, clear quantitative differences between the response profile of children and adults is suggestive of age-related refinement of this system with developing face and general expertise. Standard ERP analysis also provides some support for qualitative differences in the neural response to inverted faces in children in contrast to adults. This neural profile is in line with recent behavioural studies that have reported impressively expert early face abilities during childhood, while also providing novel evidence of the ongoing neural specialisation between child and adulthood., (Copyright © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)