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Updated: Jun 5, 2026

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Published on: March 1, 2019
Social-cognitive skills between 5 and 10 months of age
Tricia Striano1, Evelin Bertin
1Cultural Ontogeny, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany.
Insights
Early joint attention skills emerge gradually in infants before 9 months. This study questions the distinct meaning of various joint attention skills due to sparse intercorrelations in early development.
Area of Science:
- Developmental psychology
- Cognitive science
- Human cultural learning
Background:
- Joint attention is crucial for cultural learning.
- Limited understanding of early joint attention skill emergence and meaning.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the development and interrelations of various joint attention skills.
- To investigate the emergence timeline of joint attention abilities.
Main Methods:
- Seventy-two infants aged 5 to 10 months were observed.
- Infants were tested on a range of joint attention tasks.
Main Results:
- Intercorrelations among different joint attention tasks were sparse.
- Most infants showed joint attention skills before 9 months of age.
Conclusions:
- The distinct meaning of various joint attention skills requires further investigation.
- Joint attention skills appear to develop more gradually in infancy than previously thought.
Abstract:
Joint attention skills are an important part of human cultural learning. However, little is known about the emergence and meaning of these skills in early ontogeny. The development of, and relation among, various joint attention skills was assessed. Seventy-two 5 to 10-month-old infants were tested on a variety of joint attention tasks. Intercorrelations among these tasks were sparse, which puts into question the meaning of these various skills. In addition, the majority of infants exhibited some joint attention skill before 9 months of age, which points to a more gradual development of joint attention skills than suggested by previous research.
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