Infants' Eye Tracking Shifts When They Start to Babble

Infants' selective attention to the eyes or mouth seems to correspond with developmental phases of speech production.

The quantity of words and the quality of language experienced by infants mediates the development of speech production. In addition to hearing words spoken, infants' social interaction with the speaker enhances the learning experience. To learn more about selective attention patterns during early development, researchers recorded eye gaze in 179 healthy, full-term infants at ages 4, 6, 10, and 12 months from monolingual, English-speaking families. Eye gaze was recorded with standard eye-tracking methods while infants watched a 50-second movie of a woman reciting a monologue in English or Spanish.

Eye-tracking results were similar, regardless of the speaker's language at ages 4, 6, and 8 months. Four-month-old infants looked significantly lon…

Reviewing Author

Martin T. Stein, MD

Disclosures

Consultant / Advisory boardPearson Neuroscience Advisory Board

Speaker’s bureauAmerican Academy of Pediatrics

RoyaltiesElsevier, Inc.

Editorial boardsJournal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics

Martin T. Stein, MD

Disclosures

Consultant / Advisory boardPearson Neuroscience Advisory Board

Speaker’s bureauAmerican Academy of Pediatrics

RoyaltiesElsevier, Inc.

Editorial boardsJournal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics