Infant gaze following depends on communicative signals: An eye‐tracking study of 5‐ to 7‐month‐olds in Vanuatu

Hernik, Mikołaj; Broesch, Tanya

doi:10.1111/desc.12779

Cited by 46 publications

(63 citation statements)

References 36 publications

(136 reference statements)

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“…Based on this result, Csibra (2010) suggested that gaze following only occurs in the narrow context of ostensive cues early in life. Recently, Hernik and Broesch (2019) replicated this finding in 5-to 7-month-old infants developing in Vanuatu community, suggesting that the phenomenon is not fully dependent on a Western style of parenting. However, other studies showed conflicting evidence.…”

Section: Communicative Cuesmentioning

confidence: 74%

“…However, such a viewpoint contradicts Senju and Csibra (2008) which did not observe gaze following in the situation with an attention-grabbing animation on the model's face (see also Hernik and Broesch, 2019). In addition, as discussed above, Gredebäck et al (2018) failed to show the effect of attentiongrabbing cue on gaze following.…”

Section: Infant Attentionmentioning

confidence: 86%

“…Previous studies also investigated the contexts that trigger infant gaze following, and the results from these studies informed theoretical perspectives. For example, infants follow others' gaze where accompanied by ostensive (communicative) cues (Senju and Csibra, 2008;Hernik and Broesch, 2019) or a highly attention-grabbing action (Szufnarowska et al, 2014). Ostensive cues or communicative cues were defined as signals showing communicative intent such as eye contact, while attentiongrabbing cues did not include communicative intent but with visually salient movement.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Learning Process of Gaze Following: Computational Modeling Based on Reinforcement Learning

2020

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Many studies have explored factors which influence gaze-following behavior of young infants. However, the results of empirical studies were inconsistent, and the mechanism underlying the contextual modulation of gaze following remains unclear. In order to provide valuable insight into the mechanisms underlying gaze following, we conducted computational modeling using Q-learning algorithm and simulated the learning process of infant gaze following to suggest a feasible model. In Experiment 1, we simulated how communicative cues and infant internal states affect the learning process of gaze following. The simulation indicated that the model in which communicative cues enhance infant internal states is the most feasible to explain the infant learning process. In Experiment 2, we simulated how individual differences in motivation for communication affect the learning process. The results showed that low motivation for communication can delay the learning process and decrease the frequency of gaze following. These simulations suggest that communicative cues may enhance infants' internal states and promote the development of gaze following. Also, initial social motivation may affect the learning process of social behaviors in the long term.

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Section: Communicative Cuesmentioning

confidence: 74%

Section: Infant Attentionmentioning

confidence: 86%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Learning Process of Gaze Following: Computational Modeling Based on Reinforcement Learning

2020

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“…Observed shifts of gaze‐direction bias covert visual attention (gaze‐cueing) in very young human infants and possibly newborns (Farroni, Massaccesi, Pividori & Johnson, 2004). They elicit overt shift of observer’s own gaze (gaze‐following) in infants as young as 5–6 months of age, raised in diverse cultural contexts (Gredebäck, Astor, & Fawcett, 2018; Gredebäck, Astor, & Fawcett, 2008; Hernik & Broesch, 2019; Senju & Csibra, 2008). Gaze‐cueing and gaze‐following may be best expressed in response to dynamic and communicative gaze‐signals in infants (Farroni, Johnson, Brockbank, & Simion, 2000; Gredebäck et al, 2018; Hernik & Broesch, 2019; Senju & Csibra, 2008), although such signals are not required for adults (Friesen & Kingstone, 1998).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Forward Bias in Human Profile‐Oriented Portraits

2020

Self Cite

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The spatial composition of human portraits obeys historically changing cultural norms. We show that it is also affected by cognitive factors that cause greater spontaneous attention to what is in front rather in the back of an agent. Scenes with more space in front of a directed object are both more often produced and judged as more aesthetically pleasant. This leads to the prediction that, in profile‐oriented human portraits, compositions with more space in front of depicted agents (a “forward bias”) should be over‐represented. By analyzing a large dataset (total N of 1,831 paintings by 582 unique identified European painters from the 15th to the 20th century), we found evidence of this forward bias: Painters tended to put more free space in front of, rather than behind, the sitters. Additionally, we found evidence that this forward bias became stronger when cultural norms of spatial composition favoring centering became less stringent.

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“…Whether or not infants are able to gaze follow in a given study seems to be affected not only by age but also whether stimulus presentation is live or computerized, whether there is perceived movement, whether a change in eye gaze direction is accompanied by a head turn, whether a communicative or attention directing cue is used before the gaze shift, and what measure is used (for a review, see [10]). Eye-tracking studies of gaze following show some evidence of gaze following from 5 months of age [11], [12], [13], [14], including in non-WEIRD (Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic) populations [15].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

New evidence for learning-based accounts of gaze following: Testing a robotic prediction

Silverstein¹,

Westermann²,

Parise³

et al. 2019

Preprint

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Gaze following is an early-emerging skill in infancy argued to be fundamental to joint attention and later language. However, how gaze following emerges has been a topic of great debate. The most widely-accepted developmental theories suggest that infants are able to gaze follow only by understanding shared attention. Another group of theories suggests that infants may learn to follow gaze based on low-level social reinforcement. Nagai et al. [Advanced Robotics, 20, 10 (2006)] successfully taught a robot to gaze follow purely through social reinforcement, and found that the robot learned to follow gaze in the horizontal plane before it learned to follow gaze in the vertical plane. In the current study, we tested whether 12-month-old infants were also better at gaze following in the horizontal than the vertical plane. This prediction does not follow from the predominant developmental theories, which have no reason to assume differences between infants’ ability to follow gaze in the two planes. We found that infants had higher accuracy when following gaze in the horizontal than the vertical plane (p = .01). These results confirm a core prediction of the robot model, suggesting that children may also learn to gaze follow through reinforcement learning. This study was pre-registered, and all data, code, and materials are openly available on the Open Science Framework (https://osf.io/fqp8z/).

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Infant gaze following depends on communicative signals: An eye‐tracking study of 5‐ to 7‐month‐olds in Vanuatu

Cited by 46 publications

References 36 publications

Learning Process of Gaze Following: Computational Modeling Based on Reinforcement Learning

Learning Process of Gaze Following: Computational Modeling Based on Reinforcement Learning

A Forward Bias in Human Profile‐Oriented Portraits

New evidence for learning-based accounts of gaze following: Testing a robotic prediction

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