ERIC Number: EJ1012989
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2013-Mar
Pages: 7
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0165-0254
EISSN: N/A
The Role of Early Visual Attention in Social Development
Wagner, Jennifer B.; Luyster, Rhiannon J.; Yim, Jung Yeon; Tager-Flusberg, Helen; Nelson, Charles A.
International Journal of Behavioral Development, v37 n2 p118-124 Mar 2013
Faces convey important information about the social environment, and even very young infants are preferentially attentive to face-like over non-face stimuli. Eye-tracking studies have allowed researchers to examine which features of faces infants find most salient across development, and the present study examined scanning of familiar (i.e., mother) and unfamiliar (i.e., stranger) static faces at 6, 9, and 12 months of age. Infants showed a preference for scanning their mother's face as compared to a stranger's face, and displayed increased attention to the eye region as compared to the mouth region. Infants also showed patterns of decreased attention to eyes and increased attention to mouths between 6 and 12 months. Associations between visual attention at 6, 9, and 12 months and the Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales DP (CSBS-DP) at 18 months were also examined, and a significant positive relation between attention to eyes at 6 months and the social subscale of the CSBS-DP at 18 months was found. This effect was driven by infants' attention to their mother's eyes. No relations between face scanning in 9- and 12-month-olds and social outcome at 18 months were found. The potential for using individual differences in early infant face processing to predict later social outcome is discussed. (Contains 4 figures and 2 tables.)
Descriptors: Human Body, Nonverbal Communication, Infants, Cognitive Processes, Visual Stimuli, Eye Movements, Mothers, Measures (Individuals), Infant Behavior, Preferences, Prediction, Role, Social Development
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Massachusetts
Identifiers - Assessments and Surveys: Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A