Eye contact and social contingency experiences from 3 to 6 months of age and their relation to the detection of non-social contingencies

Abstract

This longitudinal study focuses on the development of eye contact and the contingency of maternal reactions to infants' signals from the age of 3 to 6 months. Eighty-seven 3-month-old infants participated in this study. The amount of eye contact and of social contingencies experienced as prompt maternal responses was assessed micro-analytically based on videotaped mother -infant interactions. The ability to detect contingencies in non-social contexts was assessed by a visual expectation paradigm. The general pattern of the results shows decreases in eye contact and increases in contingencies during development, although this general pattern was not shown by all mothers. Furthermore, the results show that increases in the experience of early social contingencies are related to the ability to detect contingencies in the visual expectation task. The unexpected increase in maternal contingencies over time is discussed as reflecting a possible increase in the significance of association learning after the age of 3 months.

The Measurement of Eye Contact in Human Interactions: A Scoping Review

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Infants at risk of autism and developmental disorders: Establishing early social skills.

“…Among infants at risk of ASD, poor eye contact is consistently among the hallmark features later associated with a formal diagnosis (Baird et al, 2003; Jones, & Klin, 2013). Specifically, research has found that children with ASD tend to orient to the mouth region over another individual’s eyes (Klin & Jones, 2008; Klin, Shultz, & Jones, 2015), as well as orient to nonsocial stimuli in the environment that may compete for discriminated attention with the social stimuli (e.g., toys, plants, clocks; Lohaus et al, 2006; Sasson & Touchstone, 2014). A consistent environment plays a critical role in learning and developing social behaviors and therefore the role of environmental contingencies is integral to the development of eye contact among both typically and atypically developing children.…”