Infant sustained attention differs by context and social content in the first 2 years of life

IF 3.1 1区心理学 Q2 PSYCHOLOGY, DEVELOPMENTAL

Developmental Science Pub Date : 2024-03-18 DOI:10.1111/desc.13500

Jessica Bradshaw, Xiaoxue Fu, John E. Richards

{"title":"Infant sustained attention differs by context and social content in the first 2 years of life","authors":"Jessica Bradshaw, Xiaoxue Fu, John E. Richards","doi":"10.1111/desc.13500","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div>\n \n \n <section>\n \n <p>Sustained attention (SA) is an endogenous form of attention that emerges in infancy and reflects cognitive engagement and processing. SA is critical for learning and has been measured using different methods during screen-based and interactive contexts involving social and nonsocial stimuli. How SA differs by measurement method, context, and stimuli across development in infancy is not fully understood. This 2-year longitudinal study examines attention using one measure of overall looking behavior and three measures of SA—mean look duration, percent time in heart rate-defined SA, and heart rate change during SA—in <i>N</i> = 53 infants from 1 to 24 months across four unique task conditions: social videos, nonsocial videos, social interactions (face-to-face play), and nonsocial interactions (toy engagement). Results suggest that developmental changes in attention differ by measurement method, task context (screen or interaction), and task stimulus (social or nonsocial). During social interactions, overall looking and look durations declined after age 3–4 months, whereas heart rate-defined attention measures remained stable. All SA measures were greater for videos than for live interaction conditions throughout the first 6 months, but SA to social and nonsocial stimuli within each task context were equivalent. In the second year of life, SA measured with look durations was greater for social videos compared to other conditions, heart rate-defined SA was greater for social videos compared to nonsocial interactions, and heart rate change during SA was similar across conditions. Together, these results suggest that different measures of attention to social and nonsocial stimuli may reflect unique developmental processes and are important to compare and consider together, particularly when using infant attention as a marker of typical or atypical development.</p>\n </section>\n \n <section>\n \n <h3> Research Highlights</h3>\n \n <div>\n <ul>\n \n <li>Attention measure, context, and social content uniquely differentiate developmental trajectories of attention in the first 2 years of life.</li>\n \n <li>Overall looking to caregivers during dyadic social interactions declines significantly from 4 to 6 months of age while sustained attention (SA) to caregivers remains stable.</li>\n \n <li>Heart rate-defined SA generally differentiates stimulus context where infants show greater SA while watching videos than while engaging with toys.</li>\n </ul>\n </div>\n </section>\n </div>","PeriodicalId":48392,"journal":{"name":"Developmental Science","volume":"27 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.1000,"publicationDate":"2024-03-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/desc.13500","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Developmental Science","FirstCategoryId":"102","ListUrlMain":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/desc.13500","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"PSYCHOLOGY, DEVELOPMENTAL","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Sustained attention (SA) is an endogenous form of attention that emerges in infancy and reflects cognitive engagement and processing. SA is critical for learning and has been measured using different methods during screen-based and interactive contexts involving social and nonsocial stimuli. How SA differs by measurement method, context, and stimuli across development in infancy is not fully understood. This 2-year longitudinal study examines attention using one measure of overall looking behavior and three measures of SA—mean look duration, percent time in heart rate-defined SA, and heart rate change during SA—in N = 53 infants from 1 to 24 months across four unique task conditions: social videos, nonsocial videos, social interactions (face-to-face play), and nonsocial interactions (toy engagement). Results suggest that developmental changes in attention differ by measurement method, task context (screen or interaction), and task stimulus (social or nonsocial). During social interactions, overall looking and look durations declined after age 3–4 months, whereas heart rate-defined attention measures remained stable. All SA measures were greater for videos than for live interaction conditions throughout the first 6 months, but SA to social and nonsocial stimuli within each task context were equivalent. In the second year of life, SA measured with look durations was greater for social videos compared to other conditions, heart rate-defined SA was greater for social videos compared to nonsocial interactions, and heart rate change during SA was similar across conditions. Together, these results suggest that different measures of attention to social and nonsocial stimuli may reflect unique developmental processes and are important to compare and consider together, particularly when using infant attention as a marker of typical or atypical development.

Research Highlights

Attention measure, context, and social content uniquely differentiate developmental trajectories of attention in the first 2 years of life.
Overall looking to caregivers during dyadic social interactions declines significantly from 4 to 6 months of age while sustained attention (SA) to caregivers remains stable.
Heart rate-defined SA generally differentiates stimulus context where infants show greater SA while watching videos than while engaging with toys.

Abstract Image

查看原文本刊更多论文

婴儿出生后头两年的持续注意力因环境和社会内容而异。

持续注意（SA）是婴儿期出现的一种内源性注意形式，反映了认知参与和处理过程。持续注意力对学习至关重要，在基于屏幕和涉及社交和非社交刺激的互动情境中，已使用不同的方法对持续注意力进行了测量。目前还不完全清楚，在婴儿期的整个发育过程中，不同的测量方法、情境和刺激会产生怎样的差异。这项为期 2 年的纵向研究使用一种总体注视行为测量方法和三种注视行为测量方法（平均注视持续时间、心率定义的注视行为时间百分比和注视行为过程中的心率变化）对 1 到 24 个月的 53 名婴儿在四种独特的任务条件下的注视行为进行了研究：社交视频、非社交视频、社交互动（面对面游戏）和非社交互动（玩具参与）。结果表明，注意力的发展变化因测量方法、任务情境（屏幕或互动）和任务刺激（社交或非社交）而异。在社交互动过程中，3-4 个月大后，整体注视和注视持续时间均有所下降，而心率定义的注意力测量则保持稳定。在最初的 6 个月中，视频中的所有注意力持续时间均大于现场互动中的注意力持续时间，但在每个任务情境中，对社交和非社交刺激的注意力持续时间是相同的。在出生后第二年，与其他条件相比，社交视频中以注视持续时间衡量的注意力集中程度更高；与非社交互动相比，社交视频中以心率定义的注意力集中程度更高；在不同条件下，注意力集中过程中的心率变化相似。总之，这些结果表明，对社交和非社交刺激的注意力的不同测量可能反映了独特的发育过程，因此有必要进行比较和综合考虑，尤其是在将婴儿注意力作为典型或不典型发育的标志时。研究重点：注意测量、情境和社会内容对婴儿出生后头两年的注意发展轨迹有独特的区分。从 4 个月大到 6 个月大，在二人社交互动过程中，婴儿对照顾者的整体关注度明显下降，而对照顾者的持续关注度（SA）则保持稳定。心率定义的持续注意力一般会区分刺激情境，婴儿在观看视频时比在玩玩具时表现出更多的持续注意力。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Developmental Science Multiple-

CiteScore

8.10

自引率

8.10%

发文量

132

期刊介绍： Developmental Science publishes cutting-edge theory and up-to-the-minute research on scientific developmental psychology from leading thinkers in the field. It is currently the only journal that specifically focuses on human developmental cognitive neuroscience. Coverage includes: - Clinical, computational and comparative approaches to development - Key advances in cognitive and social development - Developmental cognitive neuroscience - Functional neuroimaging of the developing brain