Proactive or reactive? Neural oscillatory insight into the leader-follower dynamics of early infant-caregiver interaction.

ABSTRACT: We know that infants' ability to coordinate attention with others toward the end of the first year is fundamental to language acquisition and social cognition. Yet, we understand little about the neural and cognitive mechanisms driving infant attention in shared interaction: do infants play a proactive role in creating episodes of joint attention? Recording electroencephalography (EEG) from 12-mo-old infants while they engaged in table-top play with their caregiver, we examined the communicative behaviors and neural activity preceding and following infant- vs. adult-led joint attention. Infant-led episodes of joint attention appeared largely reactive: they were not associated with increased theta power, a neural marker of endogenously driven attention, and infants did not increase their os

SUBMITTER: Phillips EAM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10104541 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature