The operationalization of coordinated attention and the relations to language development: A meta-analysis

Using a structured literature search and meta-regression procedures, this chapter reports a study that sought to determine whether the associations between coordinated attention and language are moderated by operationalizations of coordinated attention, study design, and other participant characteristics. Studies were located using database searches. This resulted in 46 reports or datasets, 464 effect sizes representing 1,482 participants. Meta-regression was used to answer research questions regarding potential moderators of the effects sizes of interest, which were Pearson's r values quantifying the association between coordinated attention and language assessments. In the final models, we observed that overall effect sizes were significantly above zero, suggesting robust effects across variables of interest. Age when coordinated attention was measured was a significant moderator, suggesting that the relations between coordinated attention and language was stronger when coordinated attention was measured at earlier ages. Interestingly, the longitudinal gap duration between coordinated attention measurement and language assessment was a significant moderator suggesting that the relation between coordinated attention and language was stronger when the longitudinal gap duration was longer. We conclude the meta-analysis by suggesting the phenomena of interest-dynamic coordinated visual attention between infant and caregiver-is robust across operationalizations and has predictive value for concurrent and future language abilities.