In the earliest stages of life, infants' cognitive development hinges on their interactions with caregivers. Infants’ experiences in joint attention are particularly important for their learning about the social world. Joint attention occurs when infants and caregivers focus their attention and action on the same object or event, such as when they play together with the same toy. Developmental psychologist Amanda Brandone has embarked on a longitudinal study to explore this phenomenon further.

Collaborating with Lindsay Bowman, a developmental cognitive neuroscientist at the University of California-Davis, Brandone is following a sample of 150 infants from four to twelve months of age to explore how joint attention develops across the first year. This research tracks not only the infants’ joint-attention behaviors, like following a social partner’s gaze and pointing to direct the partner’s attention, but also their neural responses during joint-attentive interactions. Funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the team uses EEG sensors to measure infants' brain activity, aiming to pinpoint neural specializations that support joint attention development. 

“We measure babies’ brains during face-to-face interactions with their caregivers,” says Brandone, associate professor of psychology. “We also measure variability in how caregivers interact with their babies. The goal is to understand how caregivers help ‘wire up’ the infant brain. Our hypothesis is that, through interactions with sensitive and responsive caregivers early in life, the infant brain specializes to support the development of joint attention and other social behaviors.”

Brandone’s focus on infant social cognition and behavior complements Bowman’s neuroscience expertise. While Bowman’s team collects the data and conducts EEG analysis in her lab in California, Brandone’s team at Lehigh examines videos of the infants and their caregivers to identify infant joint attention behaviors and assess variability in caregiver behavior. This comprehensive approach enables a deeper understanding of how social and neurological processes intertwine in development. The data suggests that sensitive and responsive caregiving facilitates infants’ brain development and their ability to engage in joint attention. 

The approach Brandone and Bowman take in this research is new and exciting because it studies how the infant brain responds to joint attention in real-life, social settings, helping scientists understand how joint attention skills develop in infancy. Understanding how these skills develop across infancy is important because joint attention helps drive the development of various other important skills including language, social learning, and cooperation.

The implications of this work also extend beyond theoretical interest. Since disruptions in joint attention are often linked to developmental conditions like autism, understanding typical developmental patterns allows researchers to recognize atypical patterns early, potentially guiding targeted interventions.

Ultimately, Brandone's research underscores the delicate interplay between environment and infant cognition, illuminating the ways in which even the earliest interactions can leave a lasting impact.