Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

Piaget's Stage 1 of Cognitive Development01:14

Piaget's Stage 1 of Cognitive Development

2.2K
The sensorimotor stage, the initial phase of Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development, spans the first two years of a child's life. During this period, infants actively engage with their surroundings, building cognitive awareness through direct interaction with the world. This interaction is primarily based on sensory perception and motor actions, allowing infants to gradually understand basic physical properties and predict how objects interact within their environment.
Exploration...
2.2K
The Nativist Approach01:21

The Nativist Approach

554
The nativist approach to infant cognitive development proposes that infants are born with inherent knowledge structures that allow them to interpret the world almost immediately. This perspective contrasts with earlier developmental theories, such as those proposed by Jean Piaget, which emphasized a more gradual acquisition of cognitive abilities through interaction with the environment. One key concept in this approach is object permanence — the understanding that objects continue to...
554
Prosopagnosia01:24

Prosopagnosia

1.1K
Prosopagnosia, also known as face blindness, is the inability to recognize faces. In severe cases, individuals with prosopagnosia may not recognize close family members, including parents and spouses, by their faces. For instance, someone with prosopagnosia might walk past their child in a crowd, only realizing their mistake upon noticing their child's distinctive backpack or favorite jacket. Prosopagnosia specifically impairs facial recognition, while the recognition of other objects or...
1.1K
Facial Feedback Hypothesis01:24

Facial Feedback Hypothesis

771
Charles Darwin proposed that facial expressions are an evolutionary adaptation for communication. He argued that these expressions are not influenced by culture but are universal across species. For example, a snarling expression with exposed teeth signals a threat in many animals, including humans. Darwin also suggested that displaying an emotion can intensify the feeling. Smiling, for example, could enhance one's sense of happiness. This idea laid the foundation for understanding the role...
771

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Effects of parental intervention on children's English utterances and behavioral responses in video-based second language learning.

Journal of experimental child psychology·2026
Same author

Effects of praise from a social robot on task persistence in 18- to 24-month-old children.

Frontiers in robotics and AI·2026
Same author

Children flexibly adjust their punishment judgments of bystanders.

Child development·2026
Same author

Others' requests may dampen the desire to do good: The effect of requests on children's prosocial motivation across five cultures.

Developmental psychology·2026
Same author

Association Between Working Memory at Age 4 Years and Night Sleep Duration and Yogurt Intake Frequency at Age 1 Year.

Nutrients·2025
Same author

Cross-cultural differences in visual object and background processing in the infant brain.

Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.)·2025

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Mar 13, 2026

Exploring Infant Sensitivity to Visual Language using Eye Tracking and the Preferential Looking Paradigm
06:07

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

Published on: May 15, 2019

9.2K

Eye Contact Affects Object Representation in 9-Month-Old Infants.

Yuko Okumura1, Tessei Kobayashi1, Shoji Itakura2

  • 1NTT Communication Science Laboratories, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation, Kyoto, Japan.

Plos One
|October 25, 2016
PubMed
Summary

Eye contact influences how 9-month-old infants process objects. Making eye contact shifts infant attention to object identity over location, aiding information extraction.

More Related Videos

Defining the Role Of Language in Infants' Object Categorization with Eye-tracking Paradigms
07:31

Defining the Role Of Language in Infants' Object Categorization with Eye-tracking Paradigms

Published on: February 8, 2019

7.3K
Gaze in Action: Head-mounted Eye Tracking of Children's Dynamic Visual Attention During Naturalistic Behavior
07:09

Gaze in Action: Head-mounted Eye Tracking of Children's Dynamic Visual Attention During Naturalistic Behavior

Published on: November 14, 2018

11.6K

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Mar 13, 2026

Exploring Infant Sensitivity to Visual Language using Eye Tracking and the Preferential Looking Paradigm
06:07

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

Published on: May 15, 2019

9.2K
Defining the Role Of Language in Infants' Object Categorization with Eye-tracking Paradigms
07:31

Defining the Role Of Language in Infants' Object Categorization with Eye-tracking Paradigms

Published on: February 8, 2019

7.3K
Gaze in Action: Head-mounted Eye Tracking of Children's Dynamic Visual Attention During Naturalistic Behavior
07:09

Gaze in Action: Head-mounted Eye Tracking of Children's Dynamic Visual Attention During Naturalistic Behavior

Published on: November 14, 2018

11.6K

Area of Science:

  • Developmental psychology
  • Cognitive neuroscience
  • Infant perception

Background:

  • Social cues are crucial for infants to learn about their environment.
  • Previous studies show social cues affect infant information processing, but eye contact's specific role is unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate how direct eye contact, as an isolated variable, impacts 9-month-old infants' object processing.
  • To determine if eye contact influences the type of information (identity vs. location) infants retain about an object.

Main Methods:

  • Nine-month-old infants participated in social interactions with an experimenter.
  • Infants were shown an object in two conditions: with and without direct eye contact.
  • Object processing and memory for both identity and location were assessed.

Main Results:

  • When eye contact was absent, infants processed and remembered both object identity and location.
  • When eye contact was present, infants preferentially processed object identity, neglecting location.
  • This suggests context-dependent modulation of object representations in infants.

Conclusions:

  • Eye contact selectively guides 9-month-old infants' attention during object interaction.
  • Infants' object representations are dynamically modulated by social cues like eye contact.
  • Eye contact plays a functional role in helping infants prioritize relevant information for learning.