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Updated: Oct 12, 2026

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

Building blocks of joint attention: Early sensitivity to having one's own gaze followed

Holly Rayson1, James J Bonaiuto2, Pier F Ferrari3

  • 1School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Reading, United Kingdom; Institut des Sciences Cognitives - Marc Jeannerod, CNRS, Bron, France.

Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience
|April 11, 2019
PubMed

Insights

Infants show neural sensitivity to gaze following early on. Behavioral preference for congruent gaze develops significantly between 6.5 and 9.5 months, indicating key developmental changes in joint attention.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental neuroscience
  • Cognitive psychology
  • Infant perception

Background:

  • Joint attention is crucial for social development.
  • Understanding gaze following in infants is limited.
  • Early detection of gaze cues aids social interaction.

Purpose of the Study:

  • Investigate the developmental trajectory of gaze-following detection in infants.
  • Examine neural and behavioral responses to congruent and incongruent gaze cues.
  • Determine the age at which infants develop a preference for attended objects.

Main Methods:

  • Electroencephalography (EEG) to record infant neural activity.
  • Observation of infant responses to congruent and incongruent adult gaze.
  • Preferential looking paradigm to assess behavioral preference.

Main Results:

  • Alpha band suppression observed in congruent vs. incongruent conditions at 6.5 and 9.5 months.
  • Gaze congruency effect on alpha suppression was stronger at 9.5 months.
  • Infants preferred the congruent actor at 9.5 months, but not at 6.5 months.

Conclusions:

  • Infants are sensitive to gaze following from 6.5 months.
  • Significant neural and behavioral maturation in gaze detection occurs between 6.5 and 9.5 months.
  • This developmental period is critical for refining joint attention abilities.

Keywords:
AlphaEEGInfantJoint attentionPreferential looking

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