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Exploring Infant Sensitivity to Visual Language using Eye Tracking and the Preferential Looking Paradigm
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Exploring Infant Sensitivity to Visual Language using Eye Tracking and the Preferential Looking Paradigm

Published on: May 15, 2019

The development of gaze following and its relation to language

Rechele Brooks1, Andrew N Meltzoff

  • 1Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle 98195-7920, USA. recheleb@u.washington.edu

Developmental Science
|October 26, 2005
PubMed

Insights

Infants aged 10-11 months follow gaze when eyes are open, unlike 9-month-olds. This developing gaze-following skill correlates with later language development, impacting social cognition.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Infant Behavior

Background:

  • Gaze following is a crucial early social cognition skill.
  • Understanding the developmental trajectory of gaze following is key to understanding early social-emotional development.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the developmental changes in gaze following from 9 to 11 months of age.
  • To determine if infants differentiate between an adult looking with open versus closed eyes.
  • To explore the relationship between early gaze following and later language development.

Main Methods:

  • Tested 96 infants at 9, 10, and 11 months of age.
  • Infants observed an adult turning their head towards a target with either open or closed eyes.
  • Gaze-following behavior was recorded and analyzed.

Main Results:

  • 10- and 11-month-olds followed gaze significantly more when the adult's eyes were open compared to closed.
  • 9-month-olds did not show this differential response.
  • A positive correlation was found between gaze-following at 10-11 months and language scores at 18 months.

Conclusions:

  • Infants undergo a developmental shift in gaze following between 9 and 11 months, beginning to understand the role of visual connection.
  • This developmental change in gaze following has implications for understanding social cognition.
  • Early gaze-following ability is a predictor of subsequent language development.

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