Infants, 24 boys and 24 girls, aged 12-13 mo., were observed responding to 3 toys: 1 pleasant toy, 1 ambiguous or strange toy and 1 aversive toy. The infants experienced 2 trials with each toy. On 1 trial their mothers displayed positive affect; on the other teial their mothers displayed neutral affect. The order of maternal condition was counterbalanced. Maternal affect had no effect on infant reactions on the 1st trial with each toy. On the 2nd trial, positive maternal affect resulted in more positive infant responses, but only for the ambiguous toy. No significant effects of maternal affect were found on either trial for the pleasant or fear-eliciting toys. Infants social referencing may be fairly specific to ambiguous stimuli, and under some circumstances infants apparently try to process ambiguous events on their own before becoming responsive to their mother''s evaluation of those events.