Mutual Gaze During Early Mother–Infant Interactions Promotes Attention Control Development

Abstract

Efficient attention control is fundamental for infant cognitive development, but its early precursors are not well understood. This study investigated whether dyadic visual attention during parent-infant interactions at 5 months of age predicts the ability to control attention at 11 months of age (N = 55). Total duration of mutual gaze (MG) was assessed during free play at 5 months, while infant attention control was measured in a gap-and-overlap task at 5 and 11 months. MG predicted attention disengagement at 11 months. Infants who spent more time in MG at 5 months showed better attention control at 11 months. These results provide important insights into developmental pathways linking visual behavior in dyadic interactions with infants' subsequent attention skills.

Infants' visual sustained attention is higher during joint play than solo play: is this due to increased endogenous attention control or exogenous stimulus capture?

“…One telling comparison may be to liken the present findings, that compare infant attention during Joint Play and Solo Play, with previous findings that compare infant attention towards static and dynamic screen stimuli (Courage et al, 2006;Richards, 2010;Shaddy & Colombo, 2004). At the same time, the exogenous influences on gaze behaviour during the viewing of dynamic stimuli are thought to be stronger (Courage et al, 2006;Wass & Smith, 2014a, 2014b, and, most likely because of this, infants' attention durations towards dynamic stimuli are markedly higher than towards static stimuli (Shaddy & Colombo, 2004 (Carpenter et al, 1998), along with superior visual attention control (Niedźwiecka et al, 2017)? At the same time, the exogenous influences on gaze behaviour during the viewing of dynamic stimuli are thought to be stronger (Courage et al, 2006;Wass & Smith, 2014a, 2014b, and, most likely because of this, infants' attention durations towards dynamic stimuli are markedly higher than towards static stimuli (Shaddy & Colombo, 2004 (Carpenter et al, 1998), along with superior visual attention control (Niedźwiecka et al, 2017)?…”

“…Mutual gaze is a powerful ostensive signal that supports early communication and learning (Csibra & Gergely, 2009;Niedźwiecka, Ramotowska, & Tomalski, 2017). However, one further, more specific, difference in the adult-infant pattern of social interaction that we wished to examine is that Joint Play afforded more opportunities for mutual (temporally coincident) gaze to occur than Solo Play.…”

“…However, one further, more specific, difference in the adult-infant pattern of social interaction that we wished to examine is that Joint Play afforded more opportunities for mutual (temporally coincident) gaze to occur than Solo Play. Mutual gaze is a powerful ostensive signal that supports early communication and learning (Csibra & Gergely, 2009;Niedźwiecka, Ramotowska, & Tomalski, 2017). We were, therefore, interested in whether moments of mutual gaze within a Joint Play session would lead to immediate subsequent increases in infants' attentiveness.…”

Face detection in 2‐ to 6‐month‐old infants is influenced by gaze direction and species

“…Rates of mutual gaze across the first 12 weeks of life are positively associated with maternal sensitivity and less infant crying (Lohaus, Keller, & Voelker, ). Greater attention to direct eye gaze during parent–infant interactions at 5 months is positively associated with attentional control at 11 months (Niedźwieck et al, ). The capacity to align with another's gaze also has important implications for language acquisition (Brooks & Meltzoff, ) and children's understanding of others' cognitions, desires, and emotions (Brooks & Meltzoff, ).…”

“…Attention to the eyes (mutual gaze) in early infancy is similarly positively associated with later social skills, including rates of neonatal imitation (Heimann, 1989;Paukner, Simpson, Ferrari, Mrozek, & Suomi, 2014), facial mimicry (de Klerk, Hamilton, & Southgate, 2018), attentional control (Niedźwiecka, Ramotowska, & Tomalski, 2018), emotion regulation (MacLean et al, 2014), and infant-adult neural synchrony (Leong et al, 2017). Mutual gazing behavior between 2 to 8 months of age is positively associated with children's communication skills and positive social behaviors at 2 years of age (Cohen & Beckwith, 1979;Young, Merin, Rogers, & Ozonoff, 2009).…”