Individual Differences in Infant Fixation Duration Relate to Attention and Behavioral Control in Childhood

Papageorgiou, Kostas A.; Smith, Tim J.; Wu, Rachel; Johnson, Mark H.; Kirkham, Natasha Z.; Ronald, Angelica

doi:10.1177/0956797614531295

Cited by 100 publications

(98 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…Moreover, we wanted to study differences between long and short lookers, based in the assumption that long lookers might present a less developed oculomotor system (see Papageorgiou et al, 2014;Papageorgiou, Farroni, Johnson, Smith, & Ronald, 2015).…”

Section: The Current Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In infants, FDs have been associated with the developmental state of the oculomotor system (Bronson, 1994;Johnson, 1990) and with visual and cognitive processes such as attention, information processing, memory or anticipation (e.g., Harris, Hainline, Abramov, Lemerise, & Camenzuli, 1988;Papageorgiou et al, 2014). Nevertheless, due to practical and technical limitations in testing young infants not much is known about the development of the mechanisms underlying FDs and saccade programming.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Disentangling the mechanisms underlying infant fixation durations in scene perception: A computational account

et al. 2017

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The goal of this article is to investigate the unexplored mechanisms underlying the development of saccadic control in infancy by determining the generalizability and potential limitations of extending the CRISP theoretical framework and computational model of fixation durations (FDs) in adult scene-viewing to infants. The CRISP model was used to investigate the underlying mechanisms modulating FDs in 6-month-olds by applying the model to empirical eye-movement data gathered from groups of infants and adults during free-viewing of naturalistic and semi-naturalistic videos. Participants also performed a gap-overlap task to measure their disengagement abilities. Results confirmed the CRISP model's applicability to infant data. Specifically, model simulations support the view that infant saccade programming is completed in two stages: an initial labile stage, followed by a non-labile stage. Moreover, results from the empirical data and simulation studies highlighted the influence of the material viewed on the FD distributions in infants and adults, as well as the impact that the developmental state of the oculomotor system can have on saccade programming and execution at 6 months. The present work suggests that infant FDs reflect on-line perceptual and cognitive activity in a similar way to adults, but that the individual developmental state of the oculomotor system affects this relationship at 6 months. Furthermore, computational modeling filled the gaps of psychophysical studies and allowed the effects of these two factors on FDs to be simulated in infant data providing greater insights into the development of oculomotor and attentional control than can be gained from behavioral results alone.

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Section: The Current Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disentangling the mechanisms underlying infant fixation durations in scene perception: A computational account

et al. 2017

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“…Also, there is some evidence showing that the duration of attention fixations in infancy significantly predict hyperactivity-inattention symptomatology. Infants classified as long-lookers show a greater proportion of hyperactivity-inattention symptoms between 3 and 4 years of age [87]. Likewise, sustained attention between the first and the second year of life is also a predictor of hyperactivity symptoms observed at 3 years of age [88][89][90][91][92][93][94][95][96][97][98][99][100][101].…”

Section: Early Executive Attention Deficits and Developmental Disordersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Early Development of Executive Attention

Conejero¹,

Rueda²

2017

J Child Adolesc Behav

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Executive attention (EA) encompasses a variety of attention mechanisms implicated in the control of thoughts and behavior. The emergence of EA skills depends on the maturation of frontal brain structures. Evidence in the past years has shown that frontal brain structures related to EA are already functional in the first months of life and first signs of EA can be observed by the second half of the first year of life. Given the importance of EA to a wide range of developmental outcomes (e.g. academic and professional outcomes, socialization, psychological wellbeing, etc.), understanding early stages of development is of great interest for the promotion of EA and the prevention of EA-related deficits over the course of development. Despite its relevance, relatively little is known about the development of EA before the preschool years. This paper aims at providing a selective review of the existing literature about the early development of EA. We present the principal measures of EA for infants and toddlers available to date. We also review main findings on behavioral as well as brain mechanisms of EA in infancy and toddlerhood. Finally, we summarize research on early indicators of EA and its implication for the early detection of some developmental disorders.

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“…The mean duration of gaze fixation (index) reflects infants' general saccadic reaction time or "attention disengagement" time (longer "disengagement times" have been linked to autism [43,47]) whereas the relative lengthening of the fixation time in the context of faces (i.e., difference between nonface patterns and faces) reflects infants' attention bias for faces [52]. Reduced attentional bias for faces has been found in children with behavioral problems or autism [40,53,54].…”

Section: Eye-trackermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For instance, speed of visuospatial orienting at 3.5 or 7 months of age will predict cognitive and academic performance at the age of 4 and 11 years [38,39]. Similarly, tests assessing infants' attentional bias for faces at 7 months predict socioemotional development at the age of 14 months [40], and reduced face preference is associated with later autism spectrum disorders [41][42][43][44][45][46] and atypical development [47]. Compared with traditional observational methods, eye-tracking-based testing of infants allows for completed automatization of the test procedure, as well as accurate, transparent physiological metrics of the sensory and cognitive processes in infants [33,47,48].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence for spared attention to faces in 7-month-old infants after prenatal exposure to antiepileptic drugs

Videman

Stjerna

Roivainen

et al. 2016

Epilepsy & Behavior

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a b s t r a c t a r t i c l e i n f oIntroduction: Prenatal antiepileptic drug (AED) exposure is associated with an increased risk of cognitive impairment and autism spectrum disorders detected mainly at the age of two to six years. We examined whether the developmental aberrations associated with prenatal AED exposure could be detected already in infancy and whether effects on visual attention can be observed at this early age. Material and methods: We compared a prospective cohort of infants with in utero exposure to AED (n = 56) with infants without drug exposures (n = 62). The assessments performed at the age of seven months included standardized neurodevelopmental scores (Griffiths Mental Developmental Scale and Hammersmith Infant Neurological Examination) as well as a novel eye-tracking-based test for visual attention and orienting to faces. Background information included prospective collection of AED exposure data, pregnancy outcome, neuropsychological evaluation of the mothers, and information on maternal epilepsy type. Results: Carbamazepine, oxcarbazepine, and valproate, but not lamotrigine or levetiracetam, were associated with impaired early language abilities at the age of seven months. The general speed of visuospatial orienting or attentional bias for faces measured by eye-tracker-based tests did not differ between AED-exposed and control infants. Discussion: Our findings support the idea that prenatal AED exposure may impair verbal abilities, and this effect may be detected already in infancy. In contrast, the early development of attention to faces was spared after in utero AED exposure.

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Individual Differences in Infant Fixation Duration Relate to Attention and Behavioral Control in Childhood

Cited by 100 publications

References 37 publications

Disentangling the mechanisms underlying infant fixation durations in scene perception: A computational account

Disentangling the mechanisms underlying infant fixation durations in scene perception: A computational account

Early Development of Executive Attention

Evidence for spared attention to faces in 7-month-old infants after prenatal exposure to antiepileptic drugs

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