Infants in Control-Evidence for Agency in 6- to 10-Months-Old Infants in a Gaze-Contingent Eye Tracking Paradigm

The ability to control movement is a core element of agency. Previous studies of infant agency have focused on responses to sensory contingencies but neglected the importance of infants' control as a necessary indicator of agency. Here, we test whether infants flexibly control their eye movements with a gaze-contingent eye tracking paradigm. Infants aged 6-10 months (N = 45, 18 female, recruited in a city of about 600.000 inhabitants in Germany in 2022) were presented images hidden under a unicolored surface, which they could scratch free by gazing over the screen. Results show that infants flexibly directed their gaze to areas with most information in the underlying image. This indicates that infants can flexibly adjust their gaze to changing circumstances.