Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Development of Social Attention in Human Infants

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
The Many Faces of Social Attention

Abstract

In this chapter, we define social attention as a dynamic process involving the selection and interpretation of biological motion, including gaze cueing, pointing, facial expression, head and body orientation, and goal-directed actions. Critically, social attention is viewed not just as a product of development, but as a process as well. We begin with a selective review of infants’ social attention and understanding in order to show how the two are reciprocally related in the progression from dyadic to triadic social interactions and joint attention. The evidence indicates that this progression is not attributable to any single developmental process, and that both social attention and social understanding are contextually modulated. As such, findings from laboratory experiments will not easily generalize to more naturalistic situations, especially when the process of selecting the stimulus information is stripped from the task. To better understand how social attention develops, we review research related to three associated processes: (1) shared direction of attention between infant and social partner. In particular, we focus on the development of gaze and point following and distinguish between simply orienting to the same location and understanding each others’ intention and motivation; (2) contributions of motor experience to action understanding. As infants’ motor skills develop and become better coordinated, their understanding of others’ corresponding actions improves; and (3) coordination of attention between infant and social partner. This coordination progresses from initially following others’ social cues and goal-directed actions to the prediction of these actions. All three of these processes interact and contribute to the tutoring of infants’ social attention, which becomes increasingly controlled by endogenous (goal-directed) processes with development.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Amano, S., Kezuka, E., & Yamamoto, A. (2004). Infant shifting attention from an adult’s face to an adult’s hand: A precursor of joint attention. Infant Behavior & Development, 27(1), 64–80. doi:10.1016/j.infbeh.2003.06.005.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bakeman, R., & Adamson, L. B. (1984). Coordinating attention to people and objects in mother-infant and peer-infant interaction. Child Development, 55(4), 1278–1289. doi:10.2307/1129997.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Baron-Cohen, S. (1995). Mindblindness: An essay on autism and theory of mind. Cambridge: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barton, A., & Bertenthal, B. I. (2013). Infants differentially anticipate the goals of ipsilateral and contralateral reaches. Journal of Vision, 13(9), 283. doi:10.1167/13.9.283.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Batki, A., Baron-Cohen, S., Wheelright, S., Connellan, J., & Ahluwalia, J. (2000). Is there an innate gaze module? Evidence from human neonates. Infant Behavior & Development, 23(2), 223–229. doi:10.1016/S0163-6383(01)00037–6.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Behne, T., Liszkowski, U., Carpenter, M., & Tomasello, M. (2012). Twelve-month-olds’ comprehension and production of pointing. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 30(3), 359–375. doi:10.1111/j.2044-835X.2011.02043.x.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bertenthal, B. I. (1996). Origins and early development of perception, action, and representation. Annual Review of Psychology, 47, 431–459. doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.47.1.431.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bertenthal, B. I. (1999). Variation and selection in the development of perception and action. In G. Savelsbergh (Ed.), Nonlinear analyses of developmental processes (pp. 105–120). Amsterdam: Elsevier Science Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bertenthal, B. I., & Campos, J. J. (1990). A systems approach to the organizing effects of self-produced locomotion during infancy. Advances in Infancy Research, 6, 51–98.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bertenthal, B. I., & von Hofsten, C. (1998). Eye, head and trunk control: The foundation for manual development. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 22(4), 515–520. doi:10.1016/S0149-7634(97)00038–9.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bertenthal, B. I., & Longo, M. R. (2008). Motor knowledge and action understanding: A developmental perspective. In R. L. Klatzky, M. Behrmann, & B. MacWhinney (Eds.), Embodiment, ego-space, and action: 34th Carnegie symposium on cognition (pp. 323–368). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bertenthal, B. I., Rose, J. L., & Bai, D. L. (1997). Perception-action coupling in the development of visual control of posture. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 23(6), 1631–1643. doi:dx.doi.org/10.1037/0096-1523.23.6.1631.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bertenthal, B. I., Longo, M. R., & Kosobud, A. (2006). Imitative response tendencies following observation of intransitive actions. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 32(2), 210–225. doi:10.1037/0096-1523.32.2.210.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bertenthal, B. I., Gredebäck, G., & Boyer, T. W. (2013). Differential contributions of development and learning to infants’ knowledge of object continuity and discontinuity. Child Development, 84(2), 413–421. Doi 10.1111/Cdev.12005..

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bertenthal, B. I., Boyer, T. W., & Harding, S. (2014). When do infants begin to follow a point? Developmental Psychology, 50(8), 2036–2048. doi:10.1037/A0037152.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bigelow, A. E., & Power, M. (2014). Effects of maternal responsiveness on infant responsiveness and behavior in the still-face task. Infancy, 19(6), 558–584. doi:10.1111/Infa.12059.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Birmingham, E., & Kingstone, A. (2009). Human social attention: A new look at past, present, and future investigations. Annals of the New York Academy of Science, 1156, 118–140. doi:10.1111/j.1749–6632.2009.04468.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Biro, S., & Leslie, A. M. (2007). Infants’ perception of goal-directed actions: Development through cue-based bootstrapping. Developmental Science, 10(3), 379–398. doi:10.1111/j.1467–7687.2006.00544.x.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Blakemore, S. J., & Decety, J. (2001). From the perception of action to the understanding of intention. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 2, 561–567. doi:10.1038/35086023.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Boyer, T. W., & Bertenthal, B. I. (2012). Covert and overt social attention: Pointing automatically orients direction of attention. Journal of Vision 13(9). doi:10.1167/13.9.1291.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boyer, T. W., & Bertenthal, B. I. (in press). Infants’ observation of others' actions: Brief action-specific visual experience facilitates covert imitation. British Journal of Developmental Psychology.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boyer, T. W., Pan, J. S., & Bertenthal, B. I. (2011). Infants’ understanding of actions performed by mechanical devices. Cognition, 121(1), 1–11. doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2011.05.012.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Boyer, T. W., Longo, M. R., & Bertenthal, B. I. (2012). Is automatic imitation a specialized form of stimulus-response compatibility? Dissociating imitative and spatial compatibilities. Acta Psychologica, 139(3), 440–448. doi:10.1016/j.actpsy.2012.01.003.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Boyer, T. W., Harding, S., & Bertenthal, B. I. (2015). Infants’ attention to social cues and goal-directed actions during triadic interactions. Submitted for publication.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brandone, A. C., & Wellman, H. M. (2009). You can’t always get what you want: Infants understand failed goal-directed actions. Psychological Science, 20(1), 85–91. doi:10.1111/j.1467–9280.2008.02246.x.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Brass, M., Bekkering, H., & Prinz, W. (2001). Movement observation affects movement execution in a simple response task. Acta Psychologica, 106, 3–22. doi:10.1016/S0001-6918(00)00024-X.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bremner, J. G. (2010). Cognitive development: Knowledge of the physical world. In J. G. Bremner & T. D. Wachs (Eds.), The Wiley-Blackwell handbook of infant development (2nd ed.), Vol. 1, (pp. 204–242). Hoboken: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brooks, R., & Meltzoff, A. N. (2002). The importance of eyes: How infants interpret adult looking behavior. Developmental Psychology, 38(6), 958–966. doi:10.1037//0012-1649.38.6.958.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Brune, C. W., & Woodward, A. L. (2007). Social cognition and social responsiveness in 10-month-old infants. Journal of Cognition and Development, 8(2), 133–158. doi:10.1080/15248370701202331.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bruner, J. S. (1969). Eye, hand, and mind. In D. Elkind & J. H. Flavell (Eds.), Studies in cognitive development: Essays in honor of Jean Piaget (pp. 223–235). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burton, A. M., Bindemann, M., Langton, S. R. H., Schweinberger, S. R., & Jenkins, R. (2009). Gaze perception requires focused attention: Evidence from an interference task. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 35(1), 108–118. doi:dx.doi.org/10.1037/0096-1523.35.1.108.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bushnell, I. W. R. (2001). Mother’s face recognition in newborn infants: Learning and memory. Infant and Child Development, 10(1–2), 67–74. doi:10.1002/Icd.248.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Butterworth, G. (2003). Pointing is the royal road to language for babies. In S. Kita (Ed.), Pointing: where language, culture, and cognition meet (pp. 9–33). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Butterworth, G., & Grover, L. (1990). Joint visual attention, manual pointing, and preverbal communication in human infancy. In M. Jeannerod (Ed.), Attention and performance XIII (Vol. 13), (pp. 605–624). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Butterworth, G., & Jarrett, N. (1991). What minds have in common is space—Spatial mechanisms serving joint visual-attention in infancy. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 9, 55–72. doi:10.1111/j.2044-835X.1991.tb00862.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Calvo-Merino, B., Glaser, D. E., Grezes, J., Passingham, R. E., & Haggard, P. (2005). Action observation and acquired motor skills: An fMRI study with expert dancers. Cerebral Cortex, 15, 1243–1249. doi:10.1093/cercor/bhi007.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Caron, A. J., Butler, S., & Brooks, R. (2002). Gaze following at 12 and 14 months: Do the eyes matter? British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 20, 225–239. doi:10.1348/026151002166424.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carpenter, M., & Call, J. (2013). How joint is the joint attention of apes and human infants? In H. S. Terrace, & J. Metcalfe (Eds.), Agency and joint attention (pp. 49–61). New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carpenter, M., Nagell, K., & Tomasello, M. (1998). Social cognition, joint attention, and communicative competence from 9 to 15 months of age. Monograrphs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 63(4), 1–143.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cassia, V. M., Turati, C., & Simion, F. (2004). Can a nonspecific bias toward top-heavy patterns explain newborns’ face preference? Psychological Science, 15(6), 379–383. doi:10.1111/j.0956–7976.2004.00688.x.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cook, R., Bird, G., Catmur, C., Press, C., & Heyes, C. (2014). Mirror neurons: From origin to function. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 37(2), 177–192. doi:10.1017/S0140525 × 13000903.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Corbetta, M., & Shulman, G. L. (2002). Control of goal-directed and stimulus-driven attention in the brain. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 3(3), 201–215. doi:10.1038/Nrn755.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Csibra, G., & Gergely, G. (2009). Natural pedagogy. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 13(4), 148–153. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2009.01.005.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Daum, M. M., Prinz, W., & Aschersleben, G. (2009). Means-end behavior in young infants: The interplay of action perception and action production. Infancy, 14(6), 613–640. doi:10.1080/15250000903263965.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Daum, M. M., Ulber, J., & Gredebäck, G. (2013). The development of pointing perception in infancy: Effects of communicative signals on covert shifts of attention. Developmental Psychology, 49(10), 1898–1908. doi:10.1037/a0031111.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Deák, G. O., Walden, T. A., Kaiser, M. Y., & Lewis, A. (2008). Driven from distraction: How infants respond to parents’ attempts to elicit and re-direct their attention. Infant Behavior & Development, 31(1), 34–50. doi:10.1016/j.infbeh.2007.06.004.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Deák, G. O., Krasno, A. M., Triesch, J., Lewis, J., & Sepeta, L. (2014). Watch the hands: Infants can learn to follow gaze by seeing adults manipulate objects. Developmental Science, 17(2), 270–281. doi:10.1111/Desc.12122.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Decety, J., Grezes, J., Costes, N., Perani, D., Jeannerod, M., Procyk, E., Grassi, F., & Fazio, F. (1997). Brain activity during observation of actions: Influence of action content and subject’s strategy. Brain: A journal of neurology, 120, 1763–1777. doi:dx.doi.org/10.1093/brain/120.10.1763.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • D’Entremont, B., Hains, S. M. J., & Muir, D. W. (1997). A demonstration of gaze following in 3- to 6-month-olds. Infant Behavior & Development, 20(4), 569–572. doi:10.1016/S0163-6383(97)90048-5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diamond, A. (1991). Neuropsychological insights into the meaning of object concept development. In S. Carey & R. Gelman (Eds.), The epigenesis of mind: Essays on biology and cognition (pp. 67–110). Hillsdale: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Driver, J., Davis, G., Ricciardelli, P., Kidd, P., Maxwell, E., & Baron-Cohen, S. (1999). Gaze perception triggers reflexive visuospatial orienting. Visual Cognition, 6(5), 509–540. doi:10.1080/135062899394920.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • van Elk, M., van Schie, H. T., Hunnius, S., Vesper, C., & Bekkering, H. (2008). You’ll never crawl alone: Neurophysiological evidence for experience-dependent motor resonance in infancy. NeuroImage, 43(4), 808–814. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2008.07.057.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Elsabbagh, M., Gliga, T., Pickles, A., Hudry, K., Charman, T., Johnson, M. H., & Team Basis. (2013). The development of face orienting mechanisms in infants at-risk for autism. Behavioural Brain Research, 251, 147–154. doi:10.1016/j.bbr.2012.07.030.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Elsabbagh, M., Bedford, R., Senju, A., Charman, T., Pickles, A., Johnson, M. H., & Team Basis. (2014). What you see is what you get: Contextual modulation of face scanning in typical and atypical development. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 9(4), 538–543. doi:10.1093/scan/nst012.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Emery, N. J. (2000). The eyes have it: The neuroethology, function and evolution of social gaze. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 24(6), 581–604. doi:10.1016/S0149-7634(00)00025–7.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Falck-Ytter, T., Gredebäck, G., & von Hofsten, C. (2006). Infants predict other people’s action goals. Nature Neuroscience, 9(7), 878–879. doi:10.1038/nn1729.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fantz, R. L. (1965). Visual perception from birth as shown by pattern selectivity. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. doi:10.1111/j.1749–6632.1965.tb40152.x.

    Google Scholar 

  • Farroni, T., Johnson, M. H., Brockbank, M., & Simion, F. (2000). Infants’ use of gaze direction to cue attention: The importance of perceived motion. Visual Cognition, 7(6), 705–718. doi:10.1080/13506280050144399.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Farroni, T., Csibra, G., Simion, G., & Johnson, M. H. (2002). Eye contact detection in humans from birth. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 99(14), 9602–9605. doi:10.1073/pnas.152159999.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Farroni, T., Massaccesi, S., Pividori, D., & Johnson, M. H. (2004). Gaze following in newborns. Infancy, 5(1), 39–60. doi:10.1207/s15327078in0501_2.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Farroni, T., Massaccesi, S., Menon, E., & Johnson, M. H. (2007). Direct gaze modulates face recognition in young infants. Cognition, 102(3), 396–404. doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2006.01.007.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Field, T., Vega-Lahr, N., Scafidi, F., & Goldstein, S. (1986). Effects of maternal unavailability on mother-infant interactions. Infant Behavior and Development, 9, 473–478. doi:10.1016/0163–6383(86)90019-6.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Flanagan, J. R., & Johansson, R. S. (2003). Action plans used in action observation. Nature, 424(6950), 769–771. doi:10.1038/nature01861.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fogel, A. (2011). Infant development: A topical approach. Cornwall-on-Hudson, NY: Sloan Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Franchak, J. M., Kretch, K. S., Soska, K. C., & Adolph, K. E. (2011). Head-mounted eye tracking: A new method to describe infant looking. Child Development, 82(6), 1738–1750. doi:10.1111/j.1467–8624.2011.01670.x.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Frank, M. C., Vul, E., & Johnson, S. P. (2009). Development of infants’ attention to faces during the first year. Cognition, 110(2), 160–170. doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2008.11.010.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Frank, M. C., Vul, E., & Saxe, R. (2012). Measuring the development of social attention using free-viewing. Infancy, 17(4), 355–375. doi:10.1111/j.1532–7078.2011.00086.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Friesen, C. K., & Kingstone, A. (1998). The eyes have it: Reflexive orienting is triggered by non-predictive gaze. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 53, 490–495. doi:dx.doi.org/10.3758/BF03208827.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Friesen, C. K., Ristic, J., & Kingstone, A. (2004). Attentional effects of counterpredictive gaze and arrow cues. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 30(2), 319–329. doi:10.1037/0096-1523.30.2.319.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Frischen, A., Bayliss, A. P., & Tipper, S. P. (2007). Gaze cueing of attention: Visual attention, social cognition, and individual differences. Psychological Bulletin, 133(4), 694–724. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.133.4.694.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gallese, V., & Goldman, A. (1998). Mirror neurons and the simulation theory of mind-reading. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 2(12), 493–501.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gallese, V., Fadiga, L., Fogassi, L., & Rizzolatti, G. (1996). Action recognition in the premotor cortex. Brain, 119(Pt 2), 593–609.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gallese, V., Rochat, M., Cossu, G., & Sinigaglia, C. (2009). Motor cognition and its role in the phylogeny and ontogeny of action understanding. Developmental Psychology, 45(1), 103–113. doi:10.1037/a0014436.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gangitano, M., Mottaghy, F. M., & Pascual-Leone, A. (2001). Phase-specific modulation of cortical motor output during movement observation. NeuroReport, 12, 1489–1492.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gangitano, M., Mottaghy, F. M., & Pascual-Leone, A. (2004). Modulation of premotor mirror neuron activity during observation of unpredictable grasping movements. European Journal of Neuroscience, 20(8), 2193–2202. doi:10.1111/j.1460–9568.2004.03655.x.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gergely, G., Bekkering, H., & Kiraly, I. (2002). Rational imitation in preverbal infants. Nature, 415(6873), 755. doi:10.1038/415755a.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gerson, S. A., & Woodward, A. L. (2012). A claw is like my hand: Comparison supports goal analysis in infants. Cognition, 122(2), 181–192. doi 10.1016/j.cognition.2011.10.014.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gerson, S. A., & Woodward, A. L. (2014). Labels facilitate infants’ comparison of action goals. Journal of Cognition and Development, 15(2), 197–212. doi:10.1080/15248372.2013.777842.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gibson, B. S., & Kingstone, A. (2006). Visual attention and the semantics of space: Beyond central and peripheral cues. Psychological Science, 17(7), 622–627. doi:10.1111/j.1467–9280.2006.01754.x.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • di Giorgio, E., Turati, C., Altoe, G., & Simion, F. (2012). Face detection in complex visual displays: An eye-tracking study with 3- and 6-month-old infants and adults. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 113(1), 66–77. doi:10.1016/j.jecp.2012.04.012.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gliga, T., & Csibra, G. (2009). One-year-old infants appreciate the referential nature of deictic gestures and words. Psychological Science, 20(3), 347–353. doi:10.1111/j.1467–9280.2009.02295.x.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gliga, T., Elsabbagh, M., Andravizou, A., & Johnson, M. (2009). Faces attract infants’ attention in complex displays. Infancy, 14(5), 550–562. doi:10.1080/15250000903144199.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gluckman, M., & Johnson, S. P. (2013). Attentional capture by social stimuli in young infants. Frontiers in Psychology, 4, 527. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00527.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gottlieb, J., & Balan, P. (2010). Attention as a decision in information space. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 14(6), 240–248. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2010.03.001.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gredeback, G., & Melinder, A. (2010). The development and neural basis of pointing comprehension. Social Neuroscience, 5(5–6), 441–450. doi:10.1080/17470910903523327.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Greenwald, A. G. (1970). Sensory feedback mechanisms in performance control: With special reference to the ideo-motor mechanism. Psychological Review, 77(2), 73–99.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Grossman, T., & Farroni, T. (2009). Decoding social signals in the infant brain: A look at eye gaze perception. In M. De Haan & M. R. Gunnar (Eds.), Handbook of developmental social neuroscience (pp. 87–106). New York: Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grossman, T., & Johnson, M. H. (2007). The development of the social brain in human infancy. European Journal of Neuroscience, 25(4), 909–919. doi:DOI 10.1111/j.1460–9568.2007.05379.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grossman, T., Johnson, M. H., Lloyd-Fox, S., Blasi, A., Deligianni, F., Elwell, C., & Csibra, G. (2008). Early cortical specialization for face-to-face communication in human infants. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 275, 2803–2811. doi:10.1098/rspb.2008.0986.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gusella, J. L., Muir, D., & Tronick, E. Z. (1988). The effect of manipulating maternal behavior during an interaction on three- and six-month-olds’ affect and attention. Child Development, 59(4), 1111–1124. doi:10.2307/1130278.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hains, S. M., & Muir, D. W. (1996). Infant sensitivity to adult eye direction. Child Development, 67(5), 1940–1951. doi:10.1111/j.1467–8624.1996.tb01836.x.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Haith, M. M., Bergman, T., & Moore, M. J. (1977). Eye contact and face scanning in early infancy. Science, 198(4319), 853–855. doi:10.1126/science.918670.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Halit, H., de Haan, M., & Johnson, M. H. (2003). Cortical specialisation for face processing: Face-sensitive event-related potential components in 3- and 12-month-old infants. NeuroImage, 19(3), 1180–1193. doi:10.1016/S1053-8119(03)00076–4.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Harris, P. L. (1975). Development of search and object permanence during infancy. Psychological Bulletin, 82(3), 332–344. doi:dx.doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.82.3.332.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hauf, P. (2007). Infants’ perception and production of intentional actions. From Action to Cognition, 164, 285–301. doi:10.1016/S0079-6123(07)64016-3.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Head, H. (1920). Aphasia and kindred disorders of speech. Brain: A journal of neurology, 43, 87–165. doi:10.1093/brain/43.2.87.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Head, H. (1926). Aphasia and kindred disorders of speech. New York: Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hofer, T., Hauf, P., & Aschersleben, G. (2005). Infant’s perception of goal-directed actions performed by a mechanical device. Infant Behavior & Development, 28(4), 466–480. doi:10.1016/j.infbeh.2005.04.002.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • von Hofsten, C. (1980). Predictive reaching for moving objects by human infants. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 30, 369–382. doi:10.1016/0022–0965(80)90043-0.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hommel, B., Musseler, J., Aschersleben, G., & Prinz, W. (2001a). The theory of event coding (TEC): A framework for perception and action planning. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 24, 849–937. doi:dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0140525 × 01000103.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hommel, B., Pratt, J., Colzato, L., & Godijn, R. (2001b). Symbolic control of visual attention. Psychological Science, 12(5), 360–365. doi:10.1111/1467-9280.00367.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hood, B. M., Willen, J. D., & Driver, J. (1998). Adult’s eyes trigger shifts of visual attention in human infants. Psychological Science, 9(2), 131–134. doi:10.1111/1467-9280.00024.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hunnius, S., & Geuze, R. H. (2004). Developmental changes in visual scanning of dynamic faces and abstract stimuli in infants: A longitudinal study. Infancy, 6(2), 231–255. doi:10.1207/s15327078in0602_5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • James, W. (1890). The principles of psychology (Vol. 2). New York: Dover Publications.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, M. H. (2005). Subcortical face processing. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 6, 766–774. doi:10.1038/nrn1766.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, M. H. (2011). Developmental cognitive neuroscience (3rd ed.). Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, M. H., & Morton, J. (1991). Biology and cognitive development: The case of face recognition. Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, S. C., Ok, S. J., & Luo, Y. (2007). The attribution of attention: 9-month-olds’ interpretation of gaze as goal-directed action. Developmental Science, 10(5), 530–537. doi:10.1111/j.1467–7687.2007.00606.x.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jones, W., & Klin, A. (2013). Attention to eyes is present but in decline in 2-6-month-old infants later diagnosed with autism. Nature, 504(7480), 427–431. doi:10.1038/nature12715.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kanakogi, Y., & Itakura, S. (2011). Developmental correspondence between action prediction and motor ability in early infancy. Nature Communications, 2, 341. doi:Artn 341 Doi 10.1038/Ncomms1342.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kellman, P. J., & Arterberry, M. E. (1998). The cradle of knowledge: Development of perception in infancy. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kelly, D. J., Quinn, P. C., Slater, A. M., Lee, K., Gibson, A., Smith, M., Ge, L., & Pascalis, O. (2005). Three-month-olds, but not newborns, prefer own-race faces. Developmental Science, 8(6), F31-F36. doi:10.1111/j.1467–7687.2005.0434a.x.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kelly, D. J., Quinn, P. C., Slater, A. M., Lee, K., Ge, L. Z., & Pascalis, O. (2007). The other-race effect develops during infancy—Evidence of perceptual narrowing. Psychological Science, 18(12), 1084–1089. doi:10.1111/j.1467–9280.2007.02029.x.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kelly, D. J., Liu, S. Y., Lee, K., Quinn, P. C., Pascalis, O., Slater, A. M., Ge, L. (2009). Development of the other-race effect during infancy: Evidence toward universality? Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 104(1), 105–114. doi:10.1016/j.jecp.2009.01.006.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kilner, J. M., Paulignan, Y., & Blakemore, S.-J. (2003). An interference effect of observed biological movement on action. Current Biology, 13, 522–525. doi:dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0960-9822(03)00165-9.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kilner, J. M., Marchant, J. L., & Frith, C. D. (2006). Modulation of the mirror system by social relevance. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 1(2), 143–148. doi:10.1093/scan/nsl017.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Klin, A., Jones, W., Schultz, R., & Volkmar, F. (2003). The enactive mind, or from actions to cognition: Lessons from autism. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences, 358(1430), 345–360. doi:10.1098/rstb.2002.1202.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kuhn, G., & Kingstone, A. (2009). Look away! Eyes and arrows engage oculomotor responses automatically. Attention Perception and Psychophysics, 71(2), 314–327. doi:10.3758/APP.71.2.314.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Langton, S. R. (2000). The mutual influence of gaze and head orientation in the analysis of social attention direction. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology: Section A 53(3), 825–845. doi:10.1080/713755908.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Langton, S. R. H., & Bruce, V. (1999). Reflexive visual orienting in response to the social attention of others. Visual Cognition, 6(5), 541–567.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Langton, S. R. H., Watt, R. J., & Bruce, V. (2000). Do the eyes have it? Cues to the direction of social attention. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 4(2), 50–59. doi:10.1016/S1364-6613(99)01436-9.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Legerstee, M., & Markova, G. (2008). Variations in 10-month-old infant imitation of people and things. Infant Behavior and Development, 31(1), 81–91. doi:10.1016/j.infbeh.2007.07.006.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Leung, E. H. L., & Rheingold, H. L. (1981). Development of pointing as a social gesture. Developmental Psychology, 17(2), 215–220. doi:10.1037//0012-1649.17.2.215.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liebal, K., Behne, T., Carpenter, M., & Tomasello, M. (2009). Infants use shared experience to interpret pointing gestures. Developmental Science, 12(2), 264–271. doi:10.1111/j.1467–7687.2008.00758.x.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Liszkowski, U., Carpenter, M., Henning, A., Striano, T., & Tomasello, M. (2004). Twelve-month-olds point to share attention and interest. Developmental Science, 7(3), 297–307. doi:10.1111/j.1467–7687.2004.00349.x.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Liszkowski, U., Carpenter, M., & Tomasello, M. (2007). Pointing out new news, old news, and absent referents at 12 months of age. Developmental Science, 10(2), 1–7. doi:10.1111/j.1467–7687.2006.00552.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lock, A., & Zukow-Goldring, P. (2010). Preverbal communication. In J. G. Bremner & T. D. Wachs (Eds.), The Wiley-Blackwell handbook of infant development (2nd  ed.), Vol. 1, (pp. 394–423). Oxford, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Longo, M. R., & Bertenthal, B. I. (2006). Common coding of observation and execution of action in 9-month-old infants. Infancy, 10, 43–59. doi:10.1207/s15327078in1001_3.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Longo, M. R., Kosobud, A., & Bertenthal, B. I. (2008). Automatic imitation of biomechanically possible and impossible actions: Effects of priming movements versus goals. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 34(2), 489–501. doi:10.1037/0096-1523.34.2.489.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lyons, D. E., Santos, L. R., & Keil, F. C. (2006). Reflections of other minds: How primate social cognition can inform the function of mirror neurons. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 16(2), 230–234. doi:10.1016/j.conb.2006.03.015.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Marcovitch, S., & Zelazo, P. D. (1999). The A-not-B Error: Results from a logistic meta-analysis. Child Development, 70, 1297–1313. doi:10.1111/1467-8624.00095.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Materna, S., Dicke, P. W., & Thier, P. (2008). The posterior superior temporal sulcus is involved in social communication not specific for the eyes. Neuropsychologia, 46(11), 2759–2765. doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2008.05.016.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Meltzoff, A. N. (1995). Understanding the intentions of others: Re-enactment of intended acts by 18-month-old children. Developmental Psychology, 31(5), 838–850. doi:dx.doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.31.5.838.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Michael, J., Sandberg, K., Skewes, J., Wolf, T., Blicher, J., Overgaard, M., Frith, C. D. (2014). Continuous theta-burst stimulation demonstrates a causal role of premotor homunculus in action understanding. Psychological Science, 25(4), 963–972. doi:10.1177/0956797613520608.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Miklosi, A., & Soproni, K. (2006). A comparative analysis of animals’ understanding of the human pointing gesture. Animal Cognition, 9(2), 81–93. doi:10.1007/s10071-005-0008-1.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Moore, C., & Corkum, V. (1998). Infant gaze following based on eye direction. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 16, 495–503. doi:10.1111/j.2044-835X.1998.tb00767.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morange, F., & Bloch, H. (1996). Lateralization of the approach movement and the prehension movement in infants from 4 to 7 months. Early Development and Parenting, 5, 81–92. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1099—0917(199606)5:2 < 81::AID-EDP119 > 3.0.CO;2–M.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morissette, P., Ricard, M., & Decarie, T. G. (1995). Joint visual-attention and pointing in infancy —a longitudinal-study of comprehension. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 13, 163–175. doi:10.1111/j.2044-835X.1995.tb00671.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morton, J., & Johnson, M. H. (1991). Conspec and Conlern—a 2-process theory of infant face recognition. Psychological Review, 98(2), 164–181. doi:10.1037//0033-295x.98.2.164.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mumme, D. L., & Fernald, A. (2003). The infant as onlooker: Learning from emotional reactions observed in a television scenario. Child Development, 74(1), 221–237. doi:10.1111/1467-8624.00532.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mundy, P., & Jarrold, W. (2010). Infant joint attention, neural networks and social cognition. Neural Networks, 23(8–9), 985–997. doi:10.1016/j.neunet.2010.08.009.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Murphy, C. M., & Messer, D. J. (1977). Mothers, infants and pointing: A study of a gesture. In H. R. Schaffer (Ed.), Studies in month-infant interaction (pp. 325–354). London: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nelson, C. A. (2001). The development and neural bases of face recognition. Infant and Child Development, 10(1–2), 3–18. doi:10.1002/Icd.239.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nelson, C. A., & Collins, P. F. (1991). Event-related potential and looking-time analysis of infants responses to familiar and novel events—implications for visual recognition memory. Developmental Psychology, 27(1), 50–58. doi:dx.doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.27.1.50.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nummenmaa, L., & Calder, A. J. (2009). Neural mechanisms of social attention. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 13(3), 135–143. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2008.12.006.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pascalis, O., de Haan, M., & Nelson, C. A. (2002). Is face processing species-specific during the first year of life? Science, 296(5571), 1321–1323. doi:10.1126/science.1070223.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pascalis, O., Scott, L. S., Kelly, D. J., Shannon, R. W., Nicholson, E., Coleman, M., & Nelson, C. A. (2005). Plasticity of face processing in infancy. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 102(14), 5297–5300. doi:10.1073/pnas.0406627102.

    Google Scholar 

  • di Pellegrino, G., Fadiga, L., Fogassi, L., Gallese, V., & Rizzolatti, G. (1992). Understanding motor events: A neurophysiological study. Experimental Brain Research, 91(1), 176–180.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Posner, M. I. (1980). Orienting of attention. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 32(1), 3–25. doi:10.1080/00335558008248231.

    Google Scholar 

  • Press, C., Bird, G., Flach, R., & Heyes, C. (2005). Robotic movement elicits automatic imitation. Cognitive Brain Research, 25, 632–640. doi:10.1016/j.cogbrainres.2005.08.020.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Prinz, W. (1997). Perception and action planning. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 9(2), 129–154. doi:10.1080/713752551.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Quinn, P. C. (2002). Category representation in young infants. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 11(2), 66–70. doi:10.1111/1467-8721.00170.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Quinn, P. C., Yahr, J., Kuhn, A., Slater, A. M., & Pascalis, O. (2002). Representation of the gender of human faces by infants: A preference for female. Perception, 31(9), 1109–1121. doi:10.1068/P3331.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rakison, D. H., & Woodward, A. L. (2008). New perspectives on the effects of action on perceptual and cognitive development. Developmental Psychology, 44(5), 1209–1213. doi:10.1037/a0012999.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Reid, V. M., Striano, T., Kaufman, J., & Johnson, M. H. (2004). Eye gaze cueing facilitates neural processing of objects in 4-month-old infants. NeuroReport, 15(16), 2553–2555.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Reynolds, G. D., & Richards, J. E. (2005). Familiarization, attention, and recognition memory in infancy: An event-related potential and cortical source localization study. Developmental Psychology, 41(4), 598–615. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.41.4.598.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ricciardelli, P., Bricolo, E., Aglioti, S. M., & Chelazzi, L. (2002). My eyes want to look where your eyes are looking: Exploring the tendency to imitate another individual’s gaze. NeuroReport, 13(17), 2259–2264. doi:10.1097/01.wnr.0000044227.79663.2e.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rizzolatti, G., & Craighero, L. (2004). The mirror-neuron system. Annual Reviews of Neuroscience, 27, 169–192. doi:10.1146/annurev.neuro.27.070203.144230.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rizzolatti, G., Fadiga, L., Gallese, V., & Fogassi, L. (1996). Premotor cortex and the recognition of motor actions. Cognitive Brain Research, 3, 131–141. doi:10.1016/0926–6410(95)00038–0.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rizzolatti, G., Fogassi, L., & Gallese, V. (2001). Cortical mechanisms subserving object grasping and action recognition: A new view on the cortical motor functions. In M. S. Gazzaniga (Ed.), The new cognitive neurosciences (2nd ed.), (pp. 539–552). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rohlfing, K. J., Longo, M. R., & Bertenthal, B. I. (2012). Dynamic pointing triggers shifts of visual attention in young infants. Developmental Science, 15(3), 426–435. doi:10.1111/j.1467–7687.2012.01139.x.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Scaife, M., & Bruner, J. S. (1975). The capacity for joint visual attention in the infant. Nature, 253(5489), 265–266. doi:10.1038/253265a0.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Scott, L. S., & Monesson, A. (2009). The origin of biases in face perception. Psychological Science, 20(6), 676–680. doi:10.1111/j.1467–9280.2009.02348.x.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Senju, A., & Csibra, G. (2008). Gaze following in human infants depends on communicative signals. Current Biology, 18(9), 668–671. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2008.03.059.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Senju, A., & Johnson, M. H. (2009). The eye contact effect: Mechanisms and development. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 13(3), 127–134. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2008.11.009.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Senju, A., Csibra, G., & Johnson, M. H. (2008). Understanding the referential nature of looking: Infants’ preference for object-directed gaze. Cognition, 108(2), 303–319. doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2008.02.009.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Shepherd, S., & Cappuccio, M. (2012). Sociality, attention, and the mind’s eyes. In A. Seeman (Ed.), Joint Attention: New developments in psychology, philosophy of mind, and social neuroscience (pp. 205–242). Cambridge: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Siegler, R. S. (1994). Cognitive variability: A key to understanding cognitive development. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 3, 1–5. doi:10.1111/1467–8721.ep10769817.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simion, F., Valenza, E., Cassia, V. M., Turati, C., & Umilta, C. (2002). Newborns’ preference for up-down asymmetrical configurations. Developmental Science, 5(4), 427–434. doi:10.1111/1467-7687.00237.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, L. B., Thelen, E., Titzer, R., & McLin, D. (1999). Knowing in the context of acting: The task dynamics of the A-not-B error. Psychological Review, 106(2), 235–260. doi:dx.doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.106.2.235.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sommerville, J. A., & Woodward, A. L. (2005). Pulling out the intentional structure of action: The relation between action processing and action production in infancy. Cognition, 95(1), 1–30. doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2003.12.004.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sommerville, J. A., Woodward, A. L., & Needham, A. (2005). Action experience alters 3-month-old infants’ perception of others’ actions. Cognition, 96, B1–B11. doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2004.07.004.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sommerville, J. A., Hildebrand, E. A., & Crane, C. C. (2008). Experience matters: The impact of doing versus watching on infants’ subsequent perception of tool-use events. Developmental Psychology, 44(5), 1249–1256. doi:10.1037/A0012296.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sorce, J. F., Emde, R. N., Campos, J., & Klinnert, M. D. (1985). Maternal emotional signaling—Its effect on the visual-cliff behavior of 1-year-olds. Developmental Psychology, 21(1), 195–200. doi:10.1037//0012-1649.21.1.195.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Striano, T., Kopp, F., Grossmann, T., & Reid, V. M. (2006). Eye contact influences neural processing of emotional expressions in 4-month-old infants. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 1(2), 87–94. doi: 10.1093/scan/nsl008.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tai, Y. F., Scherfler, C., Brooks, D. J., Sawamoto, N., & Castiello, U. (2004). The human premotor cortex is ‘mirror’ only for biological actions. Current Biology, 14(2), 117–120. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2004.01.005.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Teufel, C., Fletcher, P. C., & Davis, G. (2010). Seeing other minds: Attributed mental states influence perception. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 14(8), 376–382. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2010.05.005.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Thelen, E., & Smith, L. (2008). Dynamic systems theories. In R. Lerner (Ed.), Handbook of child psychology. Vol 1. Theoretical models of human development (pp. 258–276). New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thelen, E., Schöner, G., Scheier, C., & Smith, L. B. (2001). The dynamics of embodiment: A field theory of infant perseverative reaching. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 24, 1–86. doi:dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0140525 × 01003910.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Thoermer, C., & Sodian, B. (2001). Preverbal infants’ understanding of referential gestures. First Language, 21, 245–264. doi:10.1177/014272370102106303.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tipples, J. (2002). Eye gaze is not unique: Automatic orienting in response to uninformative arrows. Psychonomic Bulleting and Review, 9(2), 314–318. doi:10.3758/BF03196287.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tomasello, M. (2008). Origins of human communication. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tomasello, M., Carpenter, M., Call, J., Behne, T., & Moll, H. (2005). Understanding and sharing intentions: The origins of cultural cognition. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 28(5), 675–691. discussion 691–735. doi:10.1017/S0140525 × 05000129.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tomasello, M., Carpenter, M., & Liszkowski, U. (2007). A new look at infant pointing. Child Development, 78(3), 705–722. doi:10.1111/j.1467–8624.2007.01025.x.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Triesch, J., Teuscher, C., Deák, G. O., & Carlson, E. (2006). Gaze following: Why (not) learn it? Developmental Science, 9(2), 125–147. doi:10.1111/j.1467–7687.2006.00470.x.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tronick, E. Z., & Cohn, J. F. (1989). Infant-mother face-to-face interaction—Age and gender differences in coordination and the occurrence of miscoordination. Child Development, 60(1), 85–92. doi:10.1111/j.1467–8624.1989.tb02698.x.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Turati, C., Simion, F., Milani, I., & Umilta, C. (2002). Newborns’ preference for faces: What is crucial? Developmental Psychology, 38(6), 875–882. doi:10.1037//0012-1649.38.6.875.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wahl, S., Michel, C., Pauen, S., & Hoehl, S. (2013). Head and eye movements affect object processing in 4-month-old infants more than an artificial orientation cue. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 31(Pt 2), 212–230. doi:10.1111/bjdp.12001.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wellman, H. A., Lopez-Duran, S., LaBounty, J., & Hamilton, B. (2008). Infant attention to intentional action predicts preschool theory of mind. Developmental Psychology, 44(2), 618–623. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.44.2.618.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wohlschläger, G., & Bekkering, H. (2003). Action generation and action perception in imitation: An instance of the ideomotor principle. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences, 358, 501–515.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Woodward, A. L. (1998). Infants selectively encode the goal object of an actor’s reach. Cognition, 69(1), 1–34. doi:10.1016/S0010-0277(98)00058–4.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Woodward, A. L. (2003). Infants’ developing understanding of the link between looker and object. Developmental Science, 6(3), 297–311. doi:10.1111/1467-7687.00286.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Woodward, A. L. (2009). Infants’ grasp of others’ intentions. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 18(1), 53–57. doi:10.1111/j.1467–8721.2009.01605.x.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Woodward, A. L., & Gerson, S. A. (2014). Mirroring and the development of action understanding. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences, 369(1644), 20130181. doi:10.1098/rstb.2013.0181.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Woodward, A. L., & Guajardo, J. J. (2002). Infants’ understanding of the point gesture as an object-directed action. Cognitive Development, 17(1), 1061–1084. doi:Pii S0885-2014(02)00074-6 Doi 10.1016/S0885-2014(02)00074-6

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yu, C., & Smith, L. B. (2013). Joint attention without gaze following: Human infants and their parents coordinate visual attention to objects through eye-hand coordination. Plos One, 8(11). doi:ARTN e79659 DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0079659.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zeifman, D., Delaney, S., & Blass, E. M. (1996). Sweet taste, looking, and calm in 2- and 4-week-old infants: The eyes have it. Developmental Psychology, 32(6), 1090–1099. doi:dx.doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.32.6.1090.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Psychological & Brain Sciences, Indiana University, 1101 East 10th St, 47405, Bloomington, IN, USA

    Bennett I. Bertenthal

  2. Department of Psychology, Georgia Southern University, 2670 Southern Drive, Brannen Hall, 30460, Statesboro, GA, USA

    Ty W. Boyer

Authors
  1. Bennett I. Bertenthal
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Ty W. Boyer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Bennett I. Bertenthal .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA

    Aina Puce

  2. Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA

    Bennett I. Bertenthal

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Bertenthal, B., Boyer, T. (2015). The Development of Social Attention in Human Infants. In: Puce, A., Bertenthal, B. (eds) The Many Faces of Social Attention. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-21368-2_2

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation