The Relationship of Infants' Physical Environment to Their Binet Performance at 21/2 Years

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Abstract
Most of the available evidence relating early experience to subsequent cognitive development has been concerned with interpersonal interaction variables. In the present paper the relationship of physical environment parameters to development was considered. Subjects were 23 infants who had previously taken part in a longitudinal project which included measurements of the child's physical environment between 12 and 24 months. These measurements were related to the infant's Binet performance at 31 months of age. Results indicated that some physical environment parameters including the presence of audio-visually responsive toys and a lack of overcrowding were related to subsequent Binet performance all across the second year of life. Other items were related to subsequent development only at certain time periods. A breakdown by sex suggested that female development was sensitive to environmental parameters at an earlier age than males and that females were uniquely sensitive to variety/change in their environment. Implications of these findings for early remediation were considered.