Focused attention predicts visual working memory performance in 13-month-old infants: A pupillometric study

Abstract

Attention turns looking, into seeing. Yet, little developmental research has examined the interface of attention and visual working memory (VWM), where what is seen is maintained for use in ongoing visual tasks. Using the task-evoked pupil response – a sensitive, real-time, involuntary measure of focused attention that has been shown to correlate with VWM performance in adults and older children – we examined the relationship between focused attention and VWM in 13-month-olds. We used a Delayed Match Retrieval paradigm, to test infants’ VWM for object-location bindings – what went where – while recording anticipatory gaze responses and pupil dilation. We found that infants with greater focused attention during memory encoding showed significantly better memory performance. As well, trials that ended in a correct response had significantly greater pupil response during memory encoding than incorrect trials. Taken together, this shows that pupillometry can be used as a measure of focused attention in infants, and a means to identify those individuals, or moments, where cognitive effort is maximized.

Neural substrates of early executive function development

“…It seems likely that the type of attention assessed is important here – the study by Holmboe, Bonneville-Roussy, et al (2018) used primarily measures of saccadic reaction time (see, Geeraerts et al, 2019, for a similar negative finding with a saccadic reaction time measure in older infants), whereas Blankenship et al (2019) focused on peak look duration and shift rate to and from a video. Another recent study by Cheng, Kaldy, and Blaser (2019) found that focused attention, as assessed by pupil response during stimulus encoding, directly predicted subsequent WM performance in 13 month olds. Finally, research in toddlers by Veer, Luyten, Mulder, van Tuijl, and Sleegers (2017) indicated that selective attention at 2½ years was predictive of WM and response inhibition at 3 years.…”

Putting Effort Into Infant Cognition

“…Our work established that just as in adults (Unsworth & Robison, 2017), moment-to-moment fluctuations in cognitive effort modulate infants' working memory performance. For instance, in a group of 13-month-old infants from a recent study of ours (Cheng et al, 2019a), the highest quartile of participants-based on their average pupil dilation during the presentation of to-be-remembered stimuli-achieved 66% correct, and the lowest quartile performed at chance.…”

“…In addition, Sonne, Kingo, and Krøjgaard (2017) found a positive correlation between pupil dilation and memory retrieval in an imitation task in 20-month-old toddlers over a 2-week period. Until the work of our group (Cheng, Kaldy, & Blaser, 2019a), the relationship between effort (as measured by the pupil response) and working memory had been studied only in school-age children (7 years and up) who can reliably follow verbal instructions (E. L. Johnson, Miller Singley, Peckham, Johnson, & Bunge, 2014; Karatekin, Couperus, & Marcus, 2004).…”

“…The best-fitting regression line is also shown. Figure adapted from Cheng, Kaldy, and Blaser (2019a).…”

“…To assess the role of cognitive effort in infants' memory performance, we tested 13-month-olds in the DMR paradigm and analyzed both their behavioral and pupil responses (Cheng et al, 2019a). We found that infants who had larger pupils during the memory-encoding phase of trials had better subsequent memory performance ( Figs.…”