Sensitivity to triadic attention in early infancy

Area of Science:

• Developmental Psychology
• Infant Social Cognition
• Early Communication

Background:

• Joint attention, the shared understanding of an object or event, is crucial for cognitive and social development.
• Understanding the developmental trajectory of joint attention sensitivity in infants is key to identifying early social-communication precursors.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate infant sensitivity to joint attention and social cues from 3 to 9 months of age.
• To determine if infants respond differently to coordinated attention and affect versus attention or affect alone.

Main Methods:

• Study 1: 54 infants (3, 6, 9 months) interacted with an adult in dyadic exchanges, with conditions involving joint attention or looking away.
• Study 2: 37 infants (3, 6, 9 months) experienced adult interactions coordinating visual attention and affect, affect only, attention only, or no interaction.
• Infant gazing and smiling behaviors were measured in response to different adult interaction conditions.

Main Results:

• Infants gazed and smiled more during joint attention compared to looking away.
• Infants gazed more when adults coordinated both attention and affect.
• Infants smiled more when adults coordinated affect and attention, or attention only.

Conclusions:

• Infants show sensitivity to triadic attention (joint attention involving an infant, an adult, and an object) by 3 months of age.
• Coordinated social cues, particularly attention and affect, significantly influence infant engagement and social responsiveness.
• These findings highlight the early emergence of sophisticated social-perceptual abilities in human infants.