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Multimodal Pathways to Joint Attention in Naturalistic Contexts | IEEE Conference Publication | IEEE Xplore

Multimodal Pathways to Joint Attention in Naturalistic Contexts


Abstract:

Joint attention (JA), the ability to socially coordinate visual attention to an object, plays a pivotal role in healthy developmental outcomes. While traditional research...Show More

Abstract:

Joint attention (JA), the ability to socially coordinate visual attention to an object, plays a pivotal role in healthy developmental outcomes. While traditional research focuses on infant's sensitivity to individual social cues, recent work found that parents and infants achieve JA through a flexible system of multiple pathways (e.g., gaze following and hand following). Although previous evidence is from free-flowing interaction, the experimental setup and task do not represent daily life as parents and infants played with three toys in a stripped-down lab environment. To ensure ecological validity, we examine the generalizability of the previous findings from a controlled laboratory setting to a naturalistic environment. If the system of multiple pathways to JA is indeed flexible, it should yield similar levels of JA in different contexts. Further, the frequencies of individual pathways to JA may differ across contexts and activities. We asked parents and children to play together in a home-like lab environment while wearing head-mounted eye trackers. Moments of JA were determined by identifying instances where both parent and child looked at the same object and were then categorized by who initiated the bout (child-led and parent-led, etc.) and the pathway used to initiate. Results from this more naturalistic setting are comparable with the controlled lab-based environment. Both parents and children initiated frequent JA bouts and promptly followed each other's attention. The pathways to JA used in the present study are also comparable to those found in prior research. Parents predominantly followed children's gaze and hands, whereas children relied more on following their parents’ and their own hands, than following gaze. The present study shows that studying natural behavior in free-flowing interaction leads to robust findings that transcend specific experimental contexts.
Date of Conference: 20-23 May 2024
Date Added to IEEE Xplore: 27 August 2024
ISBN Information:
Conference Location: Austin, TX, USA

Funding Agency:


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