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.

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