Association for Behavior Analysis International

3. Research employing single choice paradigms suggest infants show a preference for prosocial others and those who are similar to themselves. This study (two experiments, N = 44 infants, aged 8 to 15 months) replicated and extended previous work by including (a) within-subject repeated measures and (b) an experimental manipulation of a plausible demand characteristic. In both experiments, (a) infants chose between two foods, (b) watched a puppet show in which one puppet expressed a liking for one of the foods and a disliking for the other food followed by a second puppet who expressed the opposite preferences, and (c) chose between the two puppets. Results for the first-choice trial indicated a majority of infants did not choose the puppet who liked the same food as the infant (i.e., the similar puppet). Within-subject repeated trials also indicated a majority of infants did not choose the similar puppet but a majority did choose a puppet presented on the same side. Findings suggest infants may not display very early preferences, for similar others and supports recommendations made by others, including publishing null findings, standardizing data collection and reporting methods, and examining individual differences by employing within-subject designs with repeated measures.

Tummy time is an activity intended to strengthen infant motor development by placing them in a prone position. However, many infants may find this time aversive, often evoking noncompliant behavior and tantrums. Previous studies have used preferred tangible items during tummy time to reduce challenging behavior and improve head elevation. We extended this previous research by comparing the effects of a more-preferred stimulus (i.e., toy penguin) in comparison to a less-preferred stimulus (i.e., mother attention alone) selected from a preference assessment with two typically developing infants. During the preference assessment, items were placed to the side of the infants’ sight while they were seated in a comfortable position and the percentage of eye contact with each item was used to establish a hierarchy of preference. During the treatment comparison, the infant was placed in the prone position and the items were situated just above the infants’ view to ensure that seeing the item required holding the head up. Although both treatments improved head elevation and reduced tantrums, the caregiver selected the treatment using the more-preferred stimulus during a concurrent-chains preference assessment.

Annually, approximately 3,500 infants die suddenly and unexpectedly in the United States, and many of these deaths are due to unsafe sleep positioning or environments (Centers for Disease Control, 2018). To promote safe sleeping and infant development, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that caregivers put infants on their backs for sleep and on their stomachs to play, known as “tummy time.” In this study, we evaluated the effectiveness of an educational video on 120 current and expectant parents’ knowledge of the AAP’s positioning recommendations. The video was associated with a significant improvement in participants’ knowledge from pre- to post-test. We also identified that participants’ reasons for positioning their babies unsafely for sleep and for limiting tummy time was largely associated with infant intolerance. In this presentation, I will: (a) discuss the implications of our results and the role of behavior analysis in addressing infant safe-sleep and tummy-time behavior and (b) describe a new intervention to teach parents of high-risk, hospitalized premature infants about safe sleep and tummy time.