Who Leads and Who Follows? The Pathways to Joint Attention During Free-Flowing Interactions Change Over Developmental Time

Joint attention (JA) has been found to correlate with many developmental outcomes. However, little is known about how naturalistic JA is established and develops during early infancy. In this study, free-flowing tabletop toy play between infants at 5 and 15 months and their mothers (N = 48 dyads; 65% white) was observed to (1) examine changes in JA, (2) investigate whether infants become better leaders or followers of JA, and (3) explore the role of intentionally mediated forms of communication. JA episodes increased in frequency and duration, and initiations of JA became more evenly distributed between members of the dyad. Older infants became better at leading as well as following their mothers' attention behaviors and more frequently directed their attention towards their partner, though this had minimal impact on the organization of episodes of JA.

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Publication Details

Journal
Child Development
Published
2025-02-18
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.14229
Citations
4
Primary Topic
Child and Animal Learning Development
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
13.78

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article

Who Leads and Who Follows? The Pathways to Joint Attention During Free-Flowing Interactions Change Over Developmental Time

Narain K. Viswanathan, Pierre Labendzki, Kathryn Elizabeth Lancaster, Tom Northrop et al.
4 citations
Child Development
Child and Animal Learning Development
13.78
article

Who Leads and Who Follows? The Pathways to Joint Attention During Free-Flowing Interactions Change Over Developmental Time

Narain K. Viswanathan, Pierre Labendzki, Kathryn Elizabeth Lancaster, Tom Northrop, Murat Gök, John R. Ives, Emily J. H. Jones, Edward JD Greenwood, Marta Perapoch Amadó, Giovanni Esposito, Sam V. Wass, Emily Phillips, María José Peñaherrera
article en
4 citations

Abstract

Joint attention (JA) has been found to correlate with many developmental outcomes. However, little is known about how naturalistic JA is established and develops during early infancy. In this study, free-flowing tabletop toy play between infants at 5 and 15 months and their mothers (N = 48 dyads; 65% white) was observed to (1) examine changes in JA, (2) investigate whether infants become better leaders or followers of JA, and (3) explore the role of intentionally mediated forms of communication. JA episodes increased in frequency and duration, and initiations of JA became more evenly distributed between members of the dyad. Older infants became better at leading as well as following their mothers' attention behaviors and more frequently directed their attention towards their partner, though this had minimal impact on the organization of episodes of JA.

Child DevelopmentVol. 96(3)
University of East London (GB), Birkbeck, University of London (GB)
Horizon 2020 Framework Programme, H2020 European Research Council
Good health and well-being
Openalex Percentile: Top 2%
Child and Animal Learning Development
13.78
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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