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The Dynamics of Caregiver Unpredictability Shape Moment-to-Moment Infant Looking during Dyadic Interaction

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Bibliographic Details
Title: The Dynamics of Caregiver Unpredictability Shape Moment-to-Moment Infant Looking during Dyadic Interaction
Language: English
Authors: Tess Allegra Forest (ORCID 0000-0002-3884-2786), Layla Bradford, Lorna Ginnell, Maroussia Berger, Donna Herr, Emmie Mbale, Kavindya Dalawella, Chloë A. Jacobs, Chikondi Mchazime, Celia D'Amato, Zamazimba Madi, Pious Clifford Mkaka, Claudia Espinoza-Heredia (ORCID 0000-0002-0090-8962), Tembeka Mhlakwaphalwa, Vukiwe Ngoma, Monique Gilmore, Marlie Miles, Jinge Ren, Nwabisa Mlandu, Reese Samuels, Michal R. Zieff, Melissa Gladstone, Kirsten A. Donald, Dima Amso (ORCID 0000-0001-6798-4698)
Source: Child Development. 2025 96(6):1885-1898.
Availability: Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://www.wiley.com/en-us
Peer Reviewed: Y
Page Count: 14
Publication Date: 2025
Document Type: Journal Articles
Reports - Research
Descriptors: Child Caregivers, Caregiver Child Relationship, Infants, Eye Movements, Interaction, Cognitive Development, Predictor Variables, Foreign Countries, Play, Visual Stimuli
Geographic Terms: South Africa, Malawi
DOI: 10.1111/cdev.70012
ISSN: 0009-3920
1467-8624
Abstract: Cognitive development is associated with how predictable caregivers are, but the mechanisms driving this are unclear. One possibility is caregiver predictability initially shapes how infants gather information for learning. Here, caregiver-infant dyads (N = 222, 2-6-months-old, all female caregivers; data collected 2022-2023) in South Africa and Malawi engaged in naturalistic play before their interactions were hand-annotated to measure caregiver predictability and infant gaze. In both countries, temporal variation in caregiver predictability shaped infant looking dynamics--infants attended to specific sensory signals (n[superscript 2] = 0.04) and specific timepoints (n[superscript 2] = 0.10) that were useful for them based on their caregiver's typical behavior. These findings provide a framework by which the predictability of caregiver behavior may shape fundamental, early optimization of visual attention for learning in infancy and later cognitive development.
Abstractor: As Provided
Entry Date: 2025
Accession Number: EJ1488562
Database: ERIC
Description
Abstract:Cognitive development is associated with how predictable caregivers are, but the mechanisms driving this are unclear. One possibility is caregiver predictability initially shapes how infants gather information for learning. Here, caregiver-infant dyads (N = 222, 2-6-months-old, all female caregivers; data collected 2022-2023) in South Africa and Malawi engaged in naturalistic play before their interactions were hand-annotated to measure caregiver predictability and infant gaze. In both countries, temporal variation in caregiver predictability shaped infant looking dynamics--infants attended to specific sensory signals (n[superscript 2] = 0.04) and specific timepoints (n[superscript 2] = 0.10) that were useful for them based on their caregiver's typical behavior. These findings provide a framework by which the predictability of caregiver behavior may shape fundamental, early optimization of visual attention for learning in infancy and later cognitive development.
ISSN:0009-3920
1467-8624
DOI:10.1111/cdev.70012