The capacity for joint visual attention in the infant

Abstract

LITTLE is known about how visual attention of the mother–infant pair is directed jointly to objects and events in the visual surround during the first year of the child's life. To what extent does the child follow the mother's lead and the mother the child's, and what are the processes involved? The ability of the infant to respond successfully to such signals allows the mother to isolate and highlight a much wider range of environmental features than if the infant ignores her attention-directing efforts. We report a preliminary investigation of the extent of the infant's ability to follow changes in adult gaze direction during the first year of life.