Responding to joint attention at infancy: an eye-tracking study

Abstract

In order to assess responding to joint attention (RJA) skills and looking behavior in 55 infants (12-23 months old) in an accurate and reliable way, a pre-recorded gaze following task was presented on a monitor and eye movements were recorded by a Tobii eye-tracking device. Children saw a video clip of a female model turning her head with open or closed eyes either to a left or right bowl. Overall, the fixation duration towards the Area of Interest (AOI) of the model's face was significantly higher than towards the AOI of both objects and towards the background, which is consistent with previous findings. A few differences in fixation duration were found in the open-eyes versus closed-eyes condition and in the baseline versus gaze direction phase. Three eye-tracking parameters were used to assess RJA. According to the first parameter no true gaze following behavior or RJA was present. According to the second parameter RJA was present; in addition, RJA was advanced in the closed-eyes condition. According to the last parameter RJA was present, though there was no difference in gaze following behavior between the open and closed-eyes condition. These findings suggest that children of this particular age rather rely on head than on eye movements during a gaze following task. The eye-tracking parameters used in the present study can be implemented in future eye-tracking studies in young children with or at risk for autism to advance research in RJA in this population.

Key words: Responding to Joint Attention, Gaze Following, E