Mother-infant interaction and contingency learning in pre-term infants

Contingency learning was assessed in 12-month-old pre-term infants and related to neonatal factors, and mother-infant interaction. Measures of speed of contingency detection and motivation to control stimulus-feedback were derived from behavioural observation and individual response patterns. The findings indicated that speed of contingency detection was related negatively to neonatal risk factors. Furthermore, motivation to control stimulus-feedback was related to maternal sensitivity and intrusiveness and the infant's positive behaviour and responsiveness. The results of this study demonstrate the usefulness of distinguishing between perception of the contingent relationship and motivation to control reinforcement. Further research is needed to examine the generalization of our results to samples of normal and healthy infants. (C) 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.