ABSTRACT
A critical requirement for optimal functioning in any environment is the ability to anticipate, plan, and prepare for important events. Logic and common sense would attest to this, but support is also provided by a wealth of objective evidence confirming that indeed, “forewarned is forearmed.” A variety of evidence suggests that this process of anticipation may undergo important developmental changes in the first 6 to 12 months of life. But until recently the supporting data were neither substantial nor unequivocal, in part due to the lack of an optimal paradigm. Within the psychophysiological literature a large body of data on anticipation in adults has been generated. That literature may provide a paradigm that will allow a greater understanding of this cognitive process in infants.
