Patterns of attention‐sensitive communication contribute to 7–20‐month‐olds' emerging pragmatic skills

Bibliographic Data

ID16782821
AuthorsMawa Dafreville (0000-0002-0889-9589, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, corresponding author), Michèle Guidetti (0000-0002-1678-946X, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique), Marie Bourjade (0000-0002-3216-8284, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)
Year2024
Volume29
Issue2
Pages216-232
Publication date2024-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInfancy (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1525-0008 • E-ISSN: 1532-7078
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/infa.12577
PMID38161318
OpenAlexW4390484291
LanguageEN
References cited63

The present study aimed at investigating the ability of 7‐ to 20‐month‐old infants to display attention‐sensitive communication using either canonical markers of language acquisition (e.g., pointing gestures, canonical babblings) or other signals based on the physical features actually perceived by the mother in everyday interaction (e.g., body movements, mouth sounds). We studied 30 French mother‐infant dyads in naturalistic settings. We assessed the infants' attention‐sensitive communication through unimodal and cross‐modal adjustment, defined as the capacity of infants to address visually inattentive mothers by avoiding visual communication mismatches and/or favoring communication matches through audible‐or‐contact signals. Unimodal and cross‐modal adjustments were tested for specific signals across spontaneous “conditions” of maternal visual attention (attentive/inattentive) from video footage filmed in the home. Both canonical markers of language development and signals belonging to an extended repertoire of communication were used by infants to adjust to their mother's visual attention. Gaze‐coordinated signals were overall not significantly better adjusted to maternal attention than non‐gaze‐coordinated signals, except for specific silent‐visual signals at certain ages. Overall, these results indicate that attention‐sensitive communication is relevant to the development of early pragmatic skills and that the intentional use of signals may be more reliably approximated by this capacity than by gaze‐coordination with signals

Body language · Cognition · Cognitive psychology · Developmental psychology · Gaze · Gesture · Language development · Nonverbal communication · Repertoire · Visual attention · Child and Animal Learning Development · Communication · Computer Science · Hearing Impairment and Communication · Language Development and Disorders · Psychology · Artificial Intelligence

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