Responding to joint attention as a developmental catalyst: Longitudinal associations with language and social responsiveness

Abstract

Joint attention (JA), infants' ability to engage in triadic attention with another person and a separate object or event, emerges in infancy. Responding to joint attention (RJA) develops earlier than initiating joint attention (IJA) and may benefit from a reconceptualization from a competence to a skill that varies in performance. Investigating associations between RJA performance and important skills of toddlerhood such as language, social responsiveness, and executive function (EF) in typically developing samples can better elucidate how RJA may serve as a developmental precursor to later dimensional skills, with implications for both typical and atypical development. Here, 210 (82% White) infants completed the Dimensional Joint Attention Assessment (DJAA), a naturalistic play‐based assessment of RJA, at 8–15 months. At 16–38 months social responsiveness, verbal ability, and EF were assessed. Multilevel models showed that DJAA scores were associated with later verbal abilities and parent‐reported social responsiveness. Exploratory analyses showed trend‐level associations between RJA and EF. Results establish the content validity of the DJAA as a measure of RJA, and longitudinal associations with later verbal ability and social responsiveness. Future work should examine EF emergence and consolidation, and RJA and later EF associations.

Predicting Theory of Mind in children from the infant connectome

“…Joint attention critically shapes infants' learning, allowing others to guide them towards relevant learning targets and to inquire information about their environment, for example in language learning 2,3 . Beyond learning, joint attention plays an important role in an infant's understanding of others, correlates with the acquisition of social cognitive skills 4,5 , and has been proposed to be a precursor of Theory of Mind (ToM), our capacity to reason about people's mental states. Because of this striking catalyzing effect on learning and social cognitive development, the emergence of joint attention (typically around 9 months of age) has been coined the 9-month revolution 1 .…”

“…A promising candidate for a precursor of ToM in infancy is joint attention-a skill achieved towards the end of the first year of life when infants begin to coordinate their attention to items in their environment with other people 31 . Joint attention entails recognizing what other people attend to, and supports learning about other's communicative and action goals [32][33][34][35] . As such, it critically shapes infants' capacity to learn from others and their acquisition of social cognitive skills.…”