Glucocorticoids and learning during infancy

In this monograph titled "A Longitudinal Study of Infant Cortisol Response During Learning Events," Laura A. Thompson, Gin Morgan, and Kellie A. Jurado describe the results of an important study of the associations between maternal sensitivity and adrenocortical activity as they influence infant learning over the first year of life. Although the researchers argue that the work can be understood from a stress framework, I disagree. However, I argue that overall what they have done is provide us with a set of findings that are quite provocative and add nicely to the archival literature on the role of maternal behavior and activity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical system in early learning and memory.