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Biomedical subjects

F D Horowitz

Publications and source records attributed to F D Horowitz.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1990

The multiple partnership. Scientist, university, agency, and government.

In the United States a large and significant percentage of scientific effort is carried out in universities and financed by government and private agencies. The partnership between universities and research support agencies relies on individuals representing their scientific organizations, their universities, and their agencies. These individuals deal with the ideas, the proposals, and advocacies that push and shape the programs that ultimately become established. The organizational and political realities that drive and influence this partnership are described in a way that highlights the ensuing richness, diversity, and the sometimes wasted efforts that characterize American science. Present-day science advocacy in the United States is placed in perspective as it is compared with an ideal, advocacy-free system and to other systems that have existed historically.

Child Development↗
PubMed1989

Using developmental theory to guide the search for the effects of biological risk factors on the development of children.

A structural-behavioral model of development is described as providing a basis for formulating hypotheses about the effects of biological risk factors on the development of children. It takes into account the contributions to development that come from organismic and environmental variables. These influences are modified by the effect of individual resiliency in the face of social and biological risk factors. Organismic, environmental, and individual differences are seen as making different contributions in different domains and at different periods of development. A distinction is made between the development of universal and nonuniversal behaviors. From this model, hypotheses can be derived about the effects of social and biological risk factors. The implications for developmental research designs are discussed as are the kinds of behavioral measures most likely to be sensitive enough to detect the effects of social and biological risk factors on the development of children.

Child↗
PubMed1989

Neonatal state profiles: reliability and short-term prediction of neurobehavioral status.

Observations were made on 40 newborns prior to hospital discharge in which states were scored every 10 sec in two 35-70-min periods separated by 6-48 hours. Newborns' states, particularly sleep states and crying, were fairly reliable across observation sessions. Cluster analyses identified 3 separable state profiles that subsequently differentiated infants on the Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale with Kansas Supplements (NBAS-K) at 2 weeks of age. Additionally, state observations and NBAS-K exams showed significant agreement on individual differences in neurologically based measures, such as startles, tremulousness, and lability of state.

Arousal↗
PubMed1988

Infant visual attention in the paired-comparison paradigm: test-retest and attention-performance relations.

The visual behavior of infants in the paired-comparison paradigm was assessed with multiple discrimination tasks week-to-week at 4 and 7 months and longitudinally from 4 to 7 months. Results indicated that although task-to-task reliability was extremely variable and typically low, most measures of infants' attention averaged across multiple tasks were reliable from 1 week to the next as well as relatively stable over the longer longitudinal period. Across all groups, infants who had shorter fixations (i.e., more fixations per fixed-exposure period) during the familiarization phase showed higher novelty preferences. While infants' shift rate during test phases was a reliable individual characteristic at 7 months, it was not at 4 months; rather, data suggested that the difficulty of the stimulus discrimination may be related to young infants' shift rate.

Attention↗
PubMed1988

Neonatal behavioral organization and visual processing at three months.

In 2 studies, the Range of State cluster derived from infants' scores on the Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale with Kansas Supplements (NBAS-K) was found to correlate significantly with visual discrimination performance at 3 months of age. Contrary to the expectation that NBAS-K orientation scores would predict visual discrimination at 3 months, it was neonatal behavioral state organization that related to later cognitive functioning in infancy.

Child Behavior↗
PubMed1987

The stability of visual habituation during the first year of life.

The short-term reliability and long-term stability of visual habituation and dishabituation in infancy were assessed in a sample of 186 infants from 4 age groups (3-, 4-, 7-, and 9-month-olds) seen for 2 within-age sessions and in a sample of 69 infants seen longitudinally at 3, 4, 7, and 9 months of age. Moderate week-to-week reliability (r's = .30-.50) was observed for duration-based and magnitude of habituation variables at all ages, although better reliability was evident at 4 and 9 months than at 3 and 7 months. In most cases, the reliability of habituation magnitude measures was attributable to the reliability of the peak fixation alone. Data from the longitudinal sample suggested that only the duration of peak fixation was consistently stable across the ages tested, although stability for several measures emerged across the 7-9-month testing. No consistent reliability or stability emerged for the presence or magnitude of dishabituation in either sample.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1986

Infants' attentional responses to frequency modulated sweeps.

In 3 experiments, the attentional responses of 4-month-old infants to frequency-modulated (FM) sweeps corresponding to the frequency range of adult-to-infant and adult-to-adult intonation patterns were assessed. In Experiment 1, infants were observed to discriminate "exaggerated" (i.e., adult-to-infant) FM sweeps from "normal" (i.e., adult-to-adult) FM sweeps in a habituation-dishabituation paradigm but did not selectively attend to one over the other. In Experiment 2, where the same stimuli were used in a paired-comparison paradigm, again no differential attention was observed. In Experiment 3, the most exaggerated sweep was paired against a continuous, monotonic pure tone, but again no difference in salience was observed. These data suggest that the extent of modulation or intonation of an auditory stimulus per se does not constitute a salient cue for infants' attention to sound.

Arousal↗
PubMed1985

Stimulation in the NICU: is more necessarily better?

Animal studies and studies with human full-term infants suggest that the stimulation present in utero affects postnatal preferences and levels of response. The premature infant does not necessarily benefit from a re-creation of the in utero environment. Each aspect of the in utero environment should be assessed independently as a potential source of added stimulation in the NICU to determine its possible effects on the development of the premature infant. The NICU environment cannot be accurately labeled by global descriptors of "deprivation" or "overstimulation." When compared with the home environments of full-term infants from lower SES homes, different aspects of the NICU environment were recorded more often, less often, or equally as often as in the full-term infants' homes. Baseline levels of stimulation should be recorded in any NICU environment prior to the institution of an intervention program. NICU caregivers tended to respond contingently to their premature patients' behaviors. However, the prematures provided few opportunities for the nurses to respond, when visual and vocal behaviors used by full-term infants were employed as the expected norm. Perhaps both the medical staff and parents should be trained to recognize and respond to the more subtle, different cues described by Als et al. as being prevalent in the behavioral repertoire of the premature infant. Based on ecologic descriptions of NICU's, researchers have suggested that an inappropriate pattern of stimulation may characterize the environment, rather than an inappropriate amount of stimulation. The NICU environment has been characterized as providing little cross-modal stimulation, few temporally patterned stimuli, and little diurnal rhythmicity. In addition, the premature infant may have few opportunities to control the environment, contrary to the full-term infant's experiences. There is evidence of some negative effects of added NICU stimulation. Individual infants should be assessed prior to intervention for their level of behavioral maturation. Interventions should be individualized for the particular needs of each infant, rather than subjecting all infants assigned to a treatment condition with a stimulation "package." The worthy goal of promoting the development of premature infants carries with it the responsibility of ensuring that no harmful effects could befall any one infant.

Acoustic Stimulation↗
PubMed1984

The perception of stimulus shape: the influence of velocity of stimulus movement.

46 3-month-old infants were presented with geometric stimuli moving laterally at two different velocities (34.8 degrees/sec; 103.3 degrees/sec). The results were interpreted as evidence that 3-month-old infants could discriminate between geometric forms moving at velocities that, according to previous findings, might interfere with shape discrimination. The findings are discussed in relation to the possible interactive effect of type and velocity of movement on geometric form discrimination.

Female↗
PubMed1983

The perception of facial expressions and stimulus motion by two- and five-month-old infants using holographic stimuli.

3 experiments were conducted in which holograms of faces were used in an attempt to expand our current knowledge of infant face perception. 5-month-old infants in the first experiment were asked to discriminate a change in facial expression and pose displayed in a holographic stereogram that either moved or remained stationary. The experimental group did not show evidence of discrimination when compared to a control group. In addition, there was no preference on the part of infants to attend more to the moving face. 2-month-old infants were tested in a second experiment on an identical discrimination task, using only the moving hologram. Unlike the older infants, the 2-month-olds succeeded in discriminating the change in expression/pose. In the final experiment, the contributions of motion to face recognition were explored in 5-month-old infants using the same hologram as in the first 2 experiments. There was again no evidence to suggest that infants preferred (in any absolute sense) the moving face. There was strong evidence, however, that motion contrasts (i.e., the starting and stopping of motion), and not motion per se, facilitate face recognition. These results are discussed, as is the potential of using holography to study face perception and other perceptual skills in infancy.

Child Development↗
PubMed1977

The effects of obstetrical medication on the behavior of Israeli newborn infants and some comparisons with Uruguayan and American infants.

The effects of obstetrical medication on neonatal behavior were studied using a sample of Israeli infants from medicated and nonmedicated mothers. Few significant behavioral differences were detected in the first month of life, and there was no difference in Bayley Infant Scale performance at 3 months of age. Comparative analyses using samples of American and Uruguayan infants and additional data from other studies of American newborns led to the conclusion that light levels of obstetrical medication do not appear to have significant effects on neonatal behavior. However, this may well be qualified by some initial population differences, by the measurements commonly used in the studies reviewed, and possibly by critical cutoff points dividing the levels of medication that will and will not affect neonatal behavior.

Analgesics, Opioid↗