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Infant responding to joint attention, executive processes, and self-regulation in preschool children

Amy Vaughan Van Hecke1, Peter Mundy, Jessica J Block

  • 1Marquette University, Department of Psychology, P.O. Box 1881, Milwaukee, WI 53201-1881, United States. amy.vanhecke@marquette.edu

Infant Behavior & Development
|December 31, 2011
PubMed

Insights

Infant joint attention skills, like responding to joint attention (RJA), are linked to later self-regulation. Early RJA development in infants predicts better attention regulation and social behaviors in toddlerhood.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Infant Behavior

Background:

  • Joint attention is crucial for social, behavioral, and language development in early childhood.
  • Executive self-regulatory processes are hypothesized to mediate the link between joint attention and social-behavioral outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the development of responding to joint attention (RJA) skills in infants.
  • To examine the longitudinal relationship between infant RJA and later attention regulation abilities.

Main Methods:

  • A cross-sectional study assessed RJA development from 9 to 18 months, measuring attention shifting latency and response accuracy.
  • A longitudinal study tracked the relationship between 12-month RJA measures and 36-month performance on a delay of gratification task.

Main Results:

  • Infant RJA development showed increased executive efficiency, with faster attention shifts and higher accuracy in older infants.
  • 12-month RJA significantly predicted 36-month self-regulation behaviors during a waiting task.

Conclusions:

  • The findings support a developmental theory linking attention regulation and joint attention in infancy.
  • Early joint attention skills, specifically RJA, are foundational for developing executive self-regulatory capacities.

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