Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 26, 2026

Gaze in Action: Head-mounted Eye Tracking of Children's Dynamic Visual Attention During Naturalistic Behavior
Published on: November 14, 2018
Development of infants' attention to faces during the first year
Michael C Frank1, Edward Vul, Scott P Johnson
1Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Ave., Room 46-3037D, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. mcfrank@mit.edu
Abstract:
In simple tests of preference, infants as young as newborns prefer faces and face-like stimuli over distractors. Little is known, however, about the development of attention to faces in complex scenes. We recorded eye-movements of 3-, 6-, and 9-month-old infants and adults during free-viewing of clips from A Charlie Brown Christmas (an animated film). The tendency to look at faces increased with age. Using novel computational tools, we found that 3-month-olds were less consistent (across individuals) in where they looked than were older infants. Moreover, younger infants' fixations were best predicted by low-level image salience, rather than the locations of faces. Between 3 and 9 months of age, infants gradually focused their attention on faces. We discuss several possible interpretations of this shift in terms of social development, cross-modal integration, and attentional/executive control.
Related Concept Videos
Piaget's Stage 1 of Cognitive Development
Exploration...
Socioemotional Development during Infancy
Primary Temperament Types
Stella Chess...
Development of Immunocompetence
The initial cells that migrate from the fetal thymus settle within the skin and epithelial tissues lining the mouth, digestive tract, and in females, the uterus and vagina. These cells, including skin-based dendritic cells, serve as antigen-presenting cells, playing a key role in T cell activation.
Subsequent T...
Relationship with Parents: Attachment
Attachment
Language Development
The critical period for language acquisition suggests that the ability to acquire language is at its peak early in life. As people age, this proficiency decreases. Language development begins very...

