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Should I follow your virtual gaze? Infants' gaze following over video call

Chiara Capparini1, Michelle P S To2, Vincent M Reid3

  • 1Department of Psychology, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YF, United Kingdom; Center for Research in Cognition & Neuroscience (CRCN), Université Libre de Bruxelles, Bruxelles 1050, Belgium.

Journal of Experimental Child Psychology
|October 8, 2022
PubMed

Insights

Human infants as young as 10 months understand eye gaze. This study shows infants follow a virtual partner

Area of Science:

  • Developmental psychology
  • Cognitive neuroscience
  • Infant behavior

Background:

  • Human infants develop social cognition early.
  • Understanding eye gaze is crucial for social interaction.
  • Previous studies on gaze following used lab settings.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate infant gaze following in a remote, live setting.
  • To assess if infants follow gaze to a virtual social partner.
  • To determine the role of the experimenter's eye status (open vs. closed) in gaze following.

Main Methods:

  • A remote live testing procedure was used.
  • 32 infants aged 11-12 months participated.
  • Infants' looking behavior was assessed with the experimenter's eyes open or closed.

Main Results:

  • Infants followed the gaze of a virtual social partner.
  • Infants preferentially followed gaze when the experimenter's eyes were open.
  • Gaze following was observed in a naturalistic home environment.

Conclusions:

  • Infants' gaze following abilities extend to virtual partners in live interactions.
  • This study validates laboratory findings in a more naturalistic setting.
  • Early social-cognitive skills, like understanding eye gaze, are robust.

Keywords:
Gaze followingInfancyInformation processingOnline testingSocial cognitionVirtual interactions

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