Do Facial Masks Impact Infants' Joint Attention? A Within-Participant Laboratory Study.

Area of Science:

• Developmental Psychology
• Infant Social Cognition
• COVID-19 Pandemic Research

Background:

• The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated widespread mask usage, altering social interactions.
• Limited research exists on the effects of caregiver facial masks on early infant social-communication development.
• Joint attention, crucial for language and social development, involves shared focus on objects or events.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate whether caregiver facial masks influence the initiation and response to joint attention in infants.
• To examine the impact of mask-wearing on infant-caregiver interactions during the pandemic.

Main Methods:

• A preregistered, within-participants experimental study was conducted with 12- to 15-month-old Swiss infants.
• Infants' joint attention episodes were measured during interactions with a caregiver in two conditions: caregiver wearing a facial mask versus no mask.
• Two structured tasks and one free-play task were employed to assess joint attention behaviors.

Main Results:

• No statistically significant differences were found in infants' joint attention behaviors between the mask and no-mask conditions.
• Infants demonstrated comparable levels of joint attention regardless of whether the caregiver's face was partially covered by a mask.

Conclusions:

• Infants' ability to engage in joint attention was not negatively affected by caregiver mask-wearing during the pandemic.
• Potential reasons include prior exposure to masked individuals or sufficient non-facial cues (eyes, body language) for attention guidance.