Gaze Behaviors of Preterm and Full-Term Infants in Nonsocial and Social Contexts of Increasing Dynamics: Visual Recognition, Attention Regulation, and Gaze Synchrony

Abstract

Although research has demonstrated poor visual skills in premature infants, few studies assessed infants' gaze behaviors across several domains of functioning in a single study. Thirty premature and 30 full-term 3-month-old infants were tested in three social and nonsocial tasks of increasing complexity and their gaze behavior was micro-coded. In a one-trial version of the visual recognition paradigm, where novel stimuli were paired with familiar stimuli, preterm infants showed longer first looks to novel stimuli. In the behavior response paradigm, which presented infants with 17 stimuli of increasing complexity in a predetermined ''on-off'' sequence, premature infants tended to look away from toys more during presentation. Finally, during mother-infant face-to-face interaction, the most dynamic interpersonal context, preterm infants and their mothers displayed short, frequent episodes of gaze synchrony, and lag-sequential analysis indicated that both mother and infant broke moments of mutual gaze within 2 sec of its initiation. The propotion of look away during the behavior response paradigm was related to lower gaze synchrony and more gaze breaks during mother-infant interactions. Results are discussed in terms of the unique and adaptive gaze patterns typical of low-risk premature infants.Correspondence should be sent to Ruth Feldman,

Alerting, orienting or executive attention networks: differential patters of pupil dilations

“…They allow for sensitivity to (Rose et al, 2005; Harel et al, 2010) and readiness for the reception of novel non-specific stimuli (Tellinghuisen et al, 1999; Colombo, 2001) by tonic changes in activity.…”

Neonatal brainstem dysfunction risks infant social engagement

“…Others report increased difficulty in bringing preterm infants to an attentive state for en-face exchanges. Once brought to an attentive state, it is more difficult for them to maintain the interaction with positive affect and their actions include increased crying, sad expressions and gaze aversion (Field, 1981; Harel et al , 2010). …”

Preference for Dynamic Human Images and Gaze‐Following Abilities in Preterm Infants at 6 and 12 Months of Age: An Eye‐Tracking Study

“…In addition, infants with later emerging social and communication difficulties, at 36 months, allocated less attention to the cued object by another's gaze compared with typically developing at‐risk and low‐risk infants at 13 months (Bedford et al., ). Although different patterns of gaze behavior during social interaction (e.g., gaze aversion, less eye contact, and less triadic skills) have been reported in preterm infants (De Schuymer et al., , ; Feldman & Eidelman, ; Harel et al., ), it is still unclear whether they show lowered preference for social stimuli such as biological motion and dynamic human images combined with less gaze following in their first year of life.…”

“…In fact, previous studies suggest that compared with full‐term infants, preterm infants display different patterns of gaze behavior during social interactions (De Schuymer, De Groote, Desoete, & Roeyers, ; De Schuymer, De Groote, Striano, Stahl, & Roeyers, ; Feldman & Eidelman, ; Harel, Gordon, Geva, & Feldman, ). For example, preterm infants at 4 and 6 months' corrected ages with a gestational age of 28–34 weeks avoided another's gaze more frequently when compared to full‐term infants (De Schuymer et al., ).…”