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Individual differences in visual attention and self-regulation: A multimethod longitudinal study from infancy to
Sanne B Geeraerts1, Roy S Hessels2, Stefan Van der Stigchel3
1Department of Child and Adolescent Studies, Utrecht University, 3584 CS Utrecht, the Netherlands.
Insights
Infant visual attention, specifically longer fixations and less variation in fixation duration, predicts better effortful control in toddlers. Early attention skills may be precursors to self-regulation development.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Early Childhood Development
Background:
- Self-regulation is crucial for development and early identification of precursors is vital for intervention.
- Visual attention in infancy is a potential early indicator of later self-regulatory capacities.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if infant visual attention measures predict toddler effortful control and compliance.
- To examine the predictive relationship between fixation duration, fixation duration variability, and disengagement in infancy and self-regulation in toddlerhood.
Main Methods:
- Eye-tracking tasks in infancy (9.10-11.43 months) assessed fixation duration, fixation duration variability, and disengagement.
- Parent reports and observational tasks in toddlerhood (26.71-31.80 months) measured effortful control and compliance.
- Multiple regression analyses with full information maximum likelihood were used to analyze the data.
Main Results:
- Longer fixation duration and less variation in fixation duration in infancy predicted better effortful control in toddlerhood.
- Infant disengagement did not predict effortful control.
- None of the visual attention measures predicted compliance in toddlerhood.
Conclusions:
- Infant visual attention, particularly fixation characteristics, may predict specific aspects of self-regulation like effortful control.
- Visual attention in infancy appears to predict independent forms of self-regulation in toddlerhood.
- Further research is needed to understand the mechanisms linking infant visual attention to toddler self-regulation.
Abstract:
Given the importance of self-regulation for a broad range of developmental outcomes, identifying reliable precursors of self-regulation early in development is important for early prevention of developmental problems. The aim of this study was to examine whether three visual attention measures (fixation duration, variation in fixation duration, and disengagement) in infancy (9.10-11.43 months of age) predicted effortful control and compliance in toddlerhood (26.71-31.80 months). The sample consisted of 74 children (50% boys). In infancy, two eye-tracking tasks were conducted: a visual search task to assess fixation duration and variation in fixation duration (n = 58) and the gap-overlap task to assess disengagement (n = 49). In toddlerhood, children's effortful control (n = 65) and compliance (n = 65) were assessed by parent reports and observed during a delay of gratification task and a cleanup session together with the parents, respectively. Using full information maximum likelihood to account for missing data, multiple regression analyses revealed that, when all three measures of visual attention were taken into account, longer fixations and less variation in fixation duration in infancy predicted better effortful control. Disengagement did not predict effortful control. Compliance in toddlerhood was not predicted by any of the visual attention measures. These findings may indicate that visual attentional measures in infancy predict relatively independent forms of self-regulation in toddlerhood. Future studies are necessary to elucidate the mechanisms that underlie the association between (variation in) fixation duration in infancy and effortful control in toddlerhood.
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