Associations between individual variations in visual attention at 9 months and behavioral competencies at 18 months in rural Malawi.

ABSTRACT: Theoretical and empirical considerations suggest that individual differences in infant visual attention correlate with variations in cognitive skills later in childhood. Here we tested this hypothesis in infants from rural Malawi (n = 198-377, depending on analysis), who were assessed with eye tracking tests of visual orienting, anticipatory looks, and attention to faces at 9 months, and more conventional tests of cognitive control (A-not-B), motor, language, and socioemotional development at 18 months. The results showed no associations between measures of infant attention at 9 months and cognitive skills at 18 months, either in analyses linking infant visual orienting with broad cognitive outcomes or analyses linking specific constructs between the two time points (i.e., switching of ant

SUBMITTER: Pyykko J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7529224 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature