The development of gaze following in monolingual and bilingual infants: A multi-laboratory study

Krista Byers-Heinlein; Rachel Ka-Ying Tsui; Daan van Renswoude; Alexis K Black; Rachel Barr; Anna Brown; Marc Colomer; Samantha Durrant; Anja Gampe; Nayeli Gonzalez-Gomez; Jessica F Hay; Mikołaj Hernik; Marianna Jartó; Ágnes Melinda Kovács; Alexandra Laoun-Rubenstein; Casey Lew-Williams; Ulf Liszkowski; Liquan Liu; Claire Noble; Christine E Potter; Joscelin Rocha-Hidalgo; Nuria Sebastian-Galles; Melanie Soderstrom; Ingmar Visser; Connor Waddell; Stephanie Wermelinger; Leher Singh

doi:10.1111/infa.12360

Journal article

The development of gaze following in monolingual and bilingual infants: A multi-laboratory study

Krista Byers-Heinlein, Rachel Ka-Ying Tsui, Daan van Renswoude, Alexis K Black, Rachel Barr, Anna Brown, Marc Colomer, Samantha Durrant, Anja Gampe, Nayeli Gonzalez-Gomez, …

Infancy, Vol.26(1), pp.4-38

01/2021

DOI: 10.1111/infa.12360

PMCID: PMC8763331

PMID: 33306867

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Abstract

Determining the meanings of words requires language learners to attend to what other people say. However, it behooves a young language learner to simultaneously encode relevant non-verbal cues, for example, by following the direction of their eye gaze. Sensitivity to cues such as eye gaze might be particularly important for bilingual infants, as they encounter less consistency between words and objects than monolingual infants, and do not always have access to the same word-learning heuristics (e.g., mutual exclusivity). In a preregistered study, we tested the hypothesis that bilingual experience would lead to a more pronounced ability to follow another's gaze. We used a gaze-following paradigm developed by Senju and Csibra (Current Biology, 18, 2008, 668) to test a total of 93 6- to 9-month-old and 229 12- to 15-month-old monolingual and bilingual infants, in 11 laboratories located in 8 countries. Monolingual and bilingual infants showed similar gaze-following abilities, and both groups showed age-related improvements in speed, accuracy, frequency, and duration of fixations to congruent objects. Unexpectedly, bilinguals tended to make more frequent fixations to on-screen objects, whether or not they were cued by the actor. These results suggest that gaze sensitivity is a fundamental aspect of development that is robust to variation in language exposure.

Child Development - physiology

Eye Movements - physiology

Eye-Tracking Technology

Female

Fixation, Ocular - physiology

Humans

Infant

Language Development

Male

Multilingualism

Social Perception

Visual Perception - physiology

Details

Title: Subtitle: The development of gaze following in monolingual and bilingual infants: A multi-laboratory study
Creators: Krista Byers-Heinlein - Concordia University, Montreal, QC, Canada
Rachel Ka-Ying Tsui - Concordia University
Daan van Renswoude - Amsterdam University of the Arts
Alexis K Black - Haskins Laboratories
Rachel Barr - Georgetown University
Anna Brown - University of Liverpool
Marc Colomer - Universitat Pompeu Fabra
Samantha Durrant - University of Liverpool
Anja Gampe - University of Zurich
Nayeli Gonzalez-Gomez - Oxford Brookes University
Jessica F Hay - University of Tennessee at Knoxville
Mikołaj Hernik - UiT The Arctic University of Norway
Marianna Jartó - Universität Hamburg
Ágnes Melinda Kovács - Eötvös Loránd University
Alexandra Laoun-Rubenstein - Concordia University, Montreal, QC, Canada
Casey Lew-Williams - Princeton University
Ulf Liszkowski - Universität Hamburg
Liquan Liu - Western Sydney University
Claire Noble - University of Liverpool
Christine E Potter - Princeton University
Joscelin Rocha-Hidalgo - Georgetown University
Nuria Sebastian-Galles - Universitat Pompeu Fabra
Melanie Soderstrom - University of Manitoba
Ingmar Visser - Amsterdam University of the Arts
Connor Waddell - Western Sydney University
Stephanie Wermelinger - University of Zurich
Leher Singh - National University of Singapore
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: Infancy, Vol.26(1), pp.4-38
DOI: 10.1111/infa.12360
PMID: 33306867
PMCID: PMC8763331
NLM abbreviation: Infancy
ISSN: 1525-0008
eISSN: 1532-7078
Grant note: R01 HD083312 / NICHD NIH HHS R01 HD095912 / NICHD NIH HHS R01HD083312 / National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
Language: English
Date published: 01/2021
Academic Unit: Psychological and Brain Sciences
Record Identifier: 9984627339502771

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