The Role of Attention in Dyadic Social Interaction With Infants and Their Caregivers

This study examined the relationship among early attention skills in infants and measures of dyadic interaction during caregiver-infant play, including interpersonal synchrony and turn-taking behavior. Thirty-five caregivers and their one-year-old infants (mean age = 15.34 months) completed a 5-minute free play session and sessions were coded for communication behaviors (eye contact, vocalizations, and gestures), coordinated attention, and infant visual attention states (focused, unfocused, and casual attention). Coordinated attention with a caregiver was not related to caregiver-infant synchrony and turn-taking. Mean duration of casual attention (i.e., passive, exploratory attention toward an object or person), but not focused attention, was negatively associated with time spent in bouts of turn-taking. Results suggest that shorter bouts of casual attention during play may support longer periods of turn-taking with caregivers, an important social communication skill for infants as intentional communication continues to develop in the second year of life.