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Multicenter Study
. 2016 Nov;52(11):1721-1731.
doi: 10.1037/dev0000205.

Infants' early visual attention and social engagement as developmental precursors to joint attention

Brenda Salley  1 , Stephen J Sheinkopf  1 , A Rebecca Neal-Beevers  2 , Elena J Tenenbaum  3 , Cynthia L Miller-Loncar  4 , Ed Tronick  5 , Linda L Lagasse  6 , Seetha Shankaran  7 , Henrietta Bada  8 , Charles Bauer  9 , Toni Whitaker  10 , Jane Hammond  11 , Barry M Lester  4
Affiliations
Multicenter Study

Infants' early visual attention and social engagement as developmental precursors to joint attention

Brenda Salley et al. Dev Psychol. 2016 Nov.

Abstract

This study examined infants' early visual attention (at 1 month of age) and social engagement (4 months) as predictors of their later joint attention (12 and 18 months). The sample (n = 325), drawn from the Maternal Lifestyle Study, a longitudinal multicenter project conducted at 4 centers of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Neonatal Research Network, included high-risk (cocaine-exposed) and matched noncocaine-exposed infants. Hierarchical regressions revealed that infants' attention orienting at 1 month significantly predicted more frequent initiating joint attention at 12 (but not 18) months of age. Social engagement at 4 months predicted initiating joint attention at 18 months. Results provide the first empirical evidence for the role of visual attention and social engagement behaviors as developmental precursors for later joint attention outcome. (PsycINFO Database Record

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