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Maternal behavior, infant development, and the question of developmental resources
Author(s) -
Moore Celia L.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
developmental psychobiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.055
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1098-2302
pISSN - 0012-1630
DOI - 10.1002/dev.20194
Subject(s) - dyad , psychology , inheritance (genetic algorithm) , developmental psychology , organism , perception , function (biology) , offspring , reciprocal , cognitive psychology , biology , evolutionary biology , neuroscience , genetics , pregnancy , linguistics , philosophy , gene
The natural development of maternal and infant behavior occurs in a dyad characterized by synchrony and reciprocal interactions. Major concepts used to describe and analyze this synchrony were reviewed. It was concluded that the dyad undergoes a developmental progression in which each part of the dyad is both a developing organism and a reliably changing milieu forming part of the extended inheritance of the other. The reliability of inherited resources is rooted in interactions essential to life, such as those used to transfer metabolic needs to dependent offspring; to stimulation (incidentally but necessarily) associated with life‐supporting mechanisms; and to perceptual, motor, or learning mechanisms used to extract specific resources from the available milieu. The diverse resources in extended inheritance contribute to the construction of new traits through opportunistic shaping or regulating interactions among them that are unrestricted by their function at earlier stages. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 49: 45–53, 2007.