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The Developmental Origins of Gaze-Following in Human Infants

Teresa Del Bianco1,2, Terje Falck-Ytter3,4, Emilia Thorup3

  • 1Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science, University of Trento.

Infancy : the Official Journal of the International Society on Infant Studies
|July 18, 2020
PubMed

Insights

Infants learn to follow gaze (GF) within their first year, crucial for attention and development. New research highlights situational and individual factors influencing early GF, proposing a perceptual narrowing framework.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Infant Studies

Background:

  • Gaze-following (GF) in infants is vital for social interaction, language acquisition, and cognitive development.
  • Early GF abilities emerge within the first year of life.
  • Existing theories on GF mechanisms often overlook situational and individual variability.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review studies on gaze-following in infants under 12 months.
  • To discuss theoretical perspectives on early gaze-following.
  • To propose a novel framework integrating complexities in early GF.

Main Methods:

  • Literature review of studies on infant gaze-following before 12 months.
  • Analysis of theoretical accounts of early gaze-following mechanisms.
  • Development of the perceptual narrowing account of gaze-following.

Main Results:

  • Early gaze-following is significantly influenced by situational constraints and individual infant characteristics.
  • Current theoretical models inadequately address the complexity of early GF.
  • A new framework, the perceptual narrowing account, is proposed.

Conclusions:

  • The perceptual narrowing account offers a potential framework to integrate existing theories of early gaze-following.
  • Understanding the nuanced factors affecting early GF is crucial for developmental research.
  • Further research is needed to validate and refine the perceptual narrowing account.

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