Long-Term Outcomes of Information Processing in Infancy

(From data on "Children in Focus")

From data on "Children in Focus" collected from 4 months to 11 years, we aim to investigate the following research questions:

Prediction from habituation to later information processing/memory as well as to attention measures.

Prediction from habituation to later cognitive tests and language /speech.

Stability of information processing and short term memory tasks.

Stability of IQ/cognitive tests.

Stability of Language/Speech.

Stability of individual differences in children's performance across age will be evaluated by Pearson correlation coefficients. To assess the predictive validity of habituation on later child outcomes, structural equation modeling will be conducted to obtain both direct and indirect effects as well as take into consideration a variety of control variables. To increase the precision of the within-child cognitive stability findings and to obtain the unique predictve validity of infant habituation on childhood outcomes, we will take into consideration (as we have done previously) child temperament, gender, birth-order, maternal education, and home environment.