Ann Bigelow
Dr. Ann Bigelow is associated with infant and child study at STFX. Her research focuses on Developmental Psychology: infancy to school age; infant abilities, play behaviour, problem solving, social-emotional development, perspective taking, and spatial abilities. Her current research interests in infant development are in two areas. First, she is conducting some investigations of the developmental bursts which occur at 9 and again at 12 months of age. How do various infant abilities, particularly motor and cognitive abilities, affect the accomplishments in play behaviour, problem solving, and social behaviour shown at these ages? Second, she is investigating the relationship between cognition and social/emotional development throughout infancy, particularly how infants develop in their ability to understand self and others. She is also interested in the development of perspective taking and spatial abilities in preschoolers and school age children, particularly in how vision directs the development of these abilities. Her teaching interests include Developmental Psychology.
My current research interests are primarily in infants' early development of the self, particularly the development of their understanding that they can affect their social and physical world through their own actions and, therefore, they are not helpless. Such a sense of self agency is the beginning point of functioning as a social being and influences future personal constructs of how the world works. My research program spans three specific areas. First, I am interested in exploring how infants use the contingency present in normal social interactions with others and in play with objects to develop their sense of self agency, i.e., that they are effective agents in the world and can act on the social and physical environment with predictable outcomes. This ability to process contingency happens within the first six months of life, possibly as early as two months of age. Second, I am interested in examining how infants make use of others' interactions with them to learn about the complexities of language and play, both of which are symbolic systems that allow for expansions in communication and memory during the first two years of life. Third, I am interested in the development of joint attention, the ability to attend to both a social partner and an object at the same time. It is a hallmark in infant development because it indicates the emergence of intersubjectivity with the realization that self reality can be shared with others. Beginning around six months of age infants may switch their gaze between their adult partner and an object, but sustained joint attention with active acknowledgement of the other's role in play is not achieved until the end of the first year of life.
In addition, I am exploring the benefits of early skin-to-skin contact between mothers and infants. There is about 30 years of research documenting the benefits of such contact for babies. Yet early mother-infant skin-to-skin contact also may be beneficial to mothers by reducing their stress and facilitating the mother-infant relationship. The latter would enhance infants’ social and cognitive development.
For several years I studied the development of children born blind. As a result of the many things these children taught me, I am also interested in studying how vision directs the development of perspective taking and spatial abilities in children from infancy through middle childhood.
Bigelow, A. E., Power, M., & Dadgar, H. (2023). Maternal mind-mindedness over infants’ first three months. Infant Behavior and Development, 72, Article 101864. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infbeh.2023.101864
Bigelow, A. E., & Power, M. (2022). Influences of infants’ and mothers’ contingent vocal responsiveness on young infants’ vocal social bids in the Still Face Task. Infant Behavior and Development, 69, Article 101776. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infbeh.2022.101776
Terrace, H. S., Bigelow, A. E., & Beebe, B. (2022). Intersubjectivity and the emergence of words. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, Article 693139. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.693139
Bigelow, A. E. & Williams, L. R. (2020). To have and to hold: Effects of physical contact on infants and their caregivers. Editorial to Special Issue. Infant Behavior and Development, 61. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infbeh.2020.101494
Bigelow, A. E., & Power, M. (2020). Mother-infant skin-to-skin contact: Short-and long-term effects for mothers and their children born full-term. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, Article 1921. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01921
Jungic, V., Creelman, D., Bigelow, A., Côté, E., Harris, S., Joordens, S., Ostafichuk, P., Toulouse, P., & Yoon, J.-S. (2020). Experiencing failure in the classroom and across the university. International Journal for Academic Development. https://doi.org/10.1080/1360144X.2020.1712209
Owusu-Ansah, F. E., Bigelow, A. E., & Power, M. (2019). The effect of mother-infant skin-to-skin contact on Ghanaian infants’ response to the Still Face Task: Comparison between Ghanaian and Canadian mother-infant dyads. Infant Behavior and Development, 57. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infbeh.2019.101367
Bigelow, A. E., Power, M., MacLean, K., Gillis, D., Ward, M., Taylor, C., Berrigan, L., & Wang, X. (2018). Mother-infant skin-to-skin contact and mother-child interaction nine years later. Social Development, 27, 937-951. https://doi.org/10.1111/sode.12307
Bigelow, A.E., Beebe, B., Power, M., Stafford, A.-L., Ewing, J., Egleson, A., & Kaminer, T. (2018). Longitudinal relations among maternal depressive symptoms, maternal mind-mindedness, and infant attachment behavior. Infant Behavior and Development, 51, 33-44. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infbeh.2018.02.006
Bigelow, A.E., Power, M., Bulmer, M., & Gerrior, K. (2017). The effect of maternal mirroring behavior on infants’ early social bidding during the Still Face Task. Infancy. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/infa.12221
Kricsfalusy, V., Zecevic, A., Assanand, S., Bigelow, A., & Gaudet, M. (2016). The frontiers of Service-Learning at Canadian universities. Engaged Scholar Journal: Engaged Research, Teaching, and Learning, 2, 87-102.
Bigelow, A.E., & Power, M. (2016). Effect of maternal responsiveness on young infants’ social bidding-like behaviour during the Still Face Task. Infant and Child Development, 25, 256-276. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/icd.1974
Bigelow, A.E., Power, M., Bulmer, M., & Gerrior, K. (2015). The relation between mothers’ mirroring of infants’ behaviour and maternal mind-mindedness. Infancy, 20, 263-282.
Bigelow, A.E., & Power, M. (2014). Effects of maternal responsiveness on infant responsiveness and behaviour in the Still Face Task. Infancy, 19, 558-584.
Bigelow, A.E., Power, M., Gillis, D.E., MacLellan-Peters, J., Alex, M., & McDonald, C. (2014). Breastfeeding, skin-to-skin contact, and mother-infant interactions over infants’ first three months. Infant Mental Health Journal, 35, 51-62.
Bigelow, A. E., & Best, C. (2013). Peek-a-what? Infants’ response to the Still Face Task after normal and interrupted peek-a-boo, Infancy, 18, 400-413.
Bigelow, A. E., Power, M., MacLellan-Peters, J., Alex, M., & McDonald, C. (2012). Effect of mother-infant skin-to-skin contact on postpartum depression and maternal physiological stress. Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic, and Neonatal Nursing, 41, 369-382.
Bigelow, A. E., & Power, M. (2012). The effect of mother-infant skin-to-skin contact on infants' response to the still face task from newborn to three months of age. Infant Behavior and Development, 35, 240-251.
Bigelow, A. E., MacLean, K., Proctor, J., Myatt, T., Gillis, R., & Power, M. (2010). Maternal sensitivity throughout infancy: Continuity and relation to attachment security. Infant Behavior and Development, 33, 50-60.
Bigelow, A. E., Littlejohn, M., Bergman, N., & McDonald, C. (2010). The relation between early mother-infant skin-to-skin contact and later maternal sensitivity in South African mothers of low birth weight infants. Infant Mental Health Journal, 31, 359-377.
Bigelow, A. E., & Walden, L. M. (2009). Infants’ response to maternal mirroring in the still face and replay tasks. Infancy, 14, 526-549
Bigelow, A. E., & Dugas, K. (2009). Relations among preschool children’s understanding of visual perspective taking, false belief, and lying. Journal of Cognition and Development, 9, 411-433.
Bigelow, A. E., Power, M., Mcquaid, N., Ward, A., & Rochat, P. (2008). Distinguishing mother infant interaction from stranger-infant interaction at 2, 4, and 6 months of age. Infancy, 13, 158-171.
Bigelow, A. E. (2008). Self knowledge. In M. M. Haith & J. B. Benson (Eds.), Encyclopedia of infant and early childhood development (Vol. 3, pp. 90-101). Oxford, UK: Elsevier.
- Updated (2016) in Reference module on neuroscience and biobehavioral psychology, Oxford, UK: Elsevier.
- Reprinted (2009) in J. B. Benson & M. M. Haith (Eds.), Language, memory, and cognition in infancy and early childhood. (pp. 445-455). Oxford, UK: Elsevier.
- Reprinted (2009) in J. B. Benson & M. M. Haith (Eds.), Social and emotional development in infancy and early childhood. (pp. 353-363). Oxford, UK: Elsevier.
Mcquaid, N., Bigelow, A. E., McLaughlin, J., & MacLean, K. (2007). Maternal mental state language and preschool children’s attachment security: Relation to children’s mental state language and expressions of emotional understanding. Social Development, 17, 61-83.
Bigelow, A. E., & Rochat, P. (2006). Two-month-old infants’ sensitivity to social contingency in mother-infant and stranger-infant interaction. Infancy, 9, 313-325.
Bigelow, A. E. (2005) Blindness and psychological development of young children, In B. Hopkins (Ed.), Cambridge Encyclopedia of Child Development. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Bigelow, A. E., MacLean, K., & Proctor, J. (2004). The role of joint attention in the development of infants’ play with objects. Developmental Science, 7, 518-526.
Bigelow, A. E. (2003) The development of joint attention in blind infants. Development and Psychopathology, 15, 259-275.
- Reprinted (2014) in J. Gavin Bremner & Alan M. Slater (Eds.), Psychology of infancy, SAGE Library of Developmental Psychology, SAGE Publications Ltd.
Bigelow, A. E., & DeCoste, C. (2003). Infants’ sensitivity to contingency in social interactions with familiar and unfamiliar partners. Infancy, 4, 111-140.
Bigelow, A.E. (2001). Discovering self through other: Infants’ preference for social contingency. Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic, 65, 335-346.
Bigelow, A. E., & Birch, S. A. J. (1999). The effects of contingency in previous interactions on infants’ preference for social partners. Infant Behavior and Development, 22. 367- 382.
Bigelow, A. E. (1999). Infants’ sensitivity to imperfect contingency in social interaction. In P. Rochat (Ed.), Early Social Cognition, pp. 137-154. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Bigelow, A. E. (1998). Infants’ sensitivity to familiar imperfect contingencies in social interaction. Infant Behavior and Development, 21, 149-162.
Koepke, J. E., & Bigelow, A. E. (1997). Observations of newborn suckling behavior. Infant Behavior and Development, 20, 93-98.
Bigelow, A. E. (1996). Blindness: A challenge to the formation of early self-knowledge. The Nova Scotia Psychologist, 11, 7-8.
Bigelow, A. (1996). Blind and sighted children's spatial knowledge of their home environment. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 19, 797-816.
Bigelow, A. E., MacLean, B. K., & MacDonald, D. (1996). Infants' response to live and replay interactions with self and mother. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 42(2), 596-611.
Bigelow, A., MacDonald, D., & MacDonald, L. (1995). The development of infants' search for their mothers, unfamiliar people, and objects. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 41(2), 191-208.
Bigelow, A. (1995). The effects of blindness on the early development of the self. In Rochat, P. (Ed.), The self in early infancy: Theory and research. Advances in Psychology Book Series, pp. 327-347. Amsterdam: North-Holland-Elsevier Science Publishers.
Bigelow, A. (1994). Book review of Streri, A. (1993). Seeing, reaching, touching: The relations between vision and touch in infancy. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, for Child Development Abstracts and Bibliography, 68(3), 92-93.
Bigelow, A. (1992). The development of blind children's ability to predict what another sees. Journal of Visual Impairment and Blindness, 86(4), 181-184.
Bigelow, A. (1992). Locomotion and search behavior in blind infants. Infant Behavior and Development, 15, 179-189.
Bigelow, A. (1991). The effect of distance and intervening obstacles on visual inference in blind and sighted children. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 14(3), 273-283.
Bigelow, A. (1991). Hiding in blind and sighted children. Development and Psychopathology, 3, 301-310.
Bigelow, A. (1991). Spatial mapping of familiar locations in blind children. Journal of Visual Impairment and Blindness, 85(3), 113-117.
Bigelow, A. (1990). Relationship between language and thought in young blind children. Journal of Visual Impairment and Blindness, 84(8), 414-419.
Bigelow, A., MacLean, J., Wood, C. & Smith, J. (1990). Infants' responses to child and adult strangers: An investigation of height and facial configuration variables. Infant Behavior & Development, 13, 21-32.
Bigelow, A. (1988). Blind children's concepts of how people see. Journal of Visual Impairment and Blindness, 82(2), 65-68.
Bigelow, A. (1988). Language in young blind children. Its relationship to their early awareness of their world. Proceedings of Realities and Opportunities: International Symposium on Visually Handicapped Infants and Young Children. Edinburgh, International Council for Education of the Visually Handicapped.
Bigelow, A. (1988). Research with visually handicapped children. Discussion group summary. A. Bigelow (Chair), Proceedings of Realities and Opportunities: International Symposium on Visually Handicapped Infants and Young Children. Edinburgh, International Council for Education of the Visually Handicapped.
Bigelow, A. (1988). Blind children's language is meaningful. Invited paper for the AER Division VIII Newsletter.
Bigelow. A. (1987). Early words of blind children. Journal of Child Language, 14, 47-56.
Bigelow, A. (1986). The development of reaching in blind children. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 4, 355-366.
Bigelow, A. (1984). From here to there. Invited review of Spatial Orientation: Theory, Research & Application, by H. Pick and L. Acredolo (Eds.), Contemporary Psychology, 29(5), 386-387.
Bigelow, A. (1983). The development of the use of sound in the search behavior of infants. Developmental Psychology, 19(3), 317-321.
Bigelow, A. (1983). The development of search in blind children. Proceedings of the Second International Symposium on Visually Handicapped Infants and Young Children. Aruba, Perkins School for the Blind.
Bigelow, A. (1981). Children's tactile identification of miniaturized common objects. Developmental Psychology, 17(1), 111-114.
Bigelow, A. (1981). The correspondence between self and image movement as a cue to self recognition in young children. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 139, 11-36.
Marble, A. E., Pell, W. M., & Bigelow, A. (1979). A wrist mounted motion activated audible training unit for visually impaired infants. IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, 26(12), 704-707.
