12- and 18-month-old infants follow gaze to spaces behind barriers

Dev Sci. 2004 Feb;7(1):F1-9. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-7687.2004.00315.x.

Abstract

Infants follow the gaze direction of others from the middle of the first year of life. In attempting to determine how infants understand the looking behavior of adults, a number of recent studies have blocked the adult's line of sight in some way (e.g. with a blindfold or with a barrier). In contrast, in the current studies an adult looked behind a barrier which blocked the child's line of sight. Using two different control conditions and several different barrier types, 12- and 18-month-old infants locomoted a short distance in order to gain the proper viewing angle to follow an experimenter's gaze to locations behind barriers. These results demonstrate that, contra Butterworth, even 12-month-old infants can follow gaze to locations outside of their current field of view. They also add to growing evidence that 12-month-olds have some understanding of the looking behaviors of others as an act of seeing.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study

MeSH terms

  • Age Factors
  • Analysis of Variance
  • Attention / physiology*
  • Female
  • Fixation, Ocular / physiology*
  • Head Movements / physiology
  • Humans
  • Imitative Behavior
  • Infant
  • Infant Behavior / physiology*
  • Male
  • Sensory Deprivation
  • Visual Perception / physiology*