Parents' multimodal spatial language structures infants' in-the-moment attention during spatial play

We asked how caregivers use spatial language and deictic gestures, in addition to object labeling, with their infants during spatial play, and how such spatial multimodal input scaffolds infants' in-the-moment attention. Forty-nine North American middle-class racially and ethnically diverse caregivers (four fathers, 45 mothers; 51% White and not Hispanic) and their 9-month-old infants (15 girls, 34 boys; 43% White and not Hispanic) played with a puzzle while wearing head-mounted eye trackers. Results showed that caregivers' speech with spatial words or objects labels extended the duration of infants' looking at the puzzle, compared to looking accompanied by utterances without such words. Notably, the combination of spatial and labeling language was more effective than either type alone. Furthermore, infants' attention was longer when caregivers used deictic gestures (e.g., pointing) compared to when they did not use these gestures, highlighting the support of multimodal communication. Together these results add to our understanding of how the content of caregivers' speech, and not simply the presence of speech, along with deictic gestures may shape infants' attention in real time. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).