Wiley: Infancy: Table of Contents

Joint Attention in Late Preterm Infants: Developmental Trajectory and Contribution of Maternal Interaction

Tue, 09 Jun 2026 06:25:10 -0700

ABSTRACT

Less is known about the development of joint attention in late preterm infants (34 – < 37 weeks of complete gestation). We aimed to examine the effect of late prematurity on the developmental trajectory of joint attention and to investigate whether maternal interactive style could moderate a possible detrimental effect of prematurity on the ability. Participants were 43 late preterm and 29 full-term infants, assessed at 12- and 15-month uncorrected chronological age, and their mothers. Both groups responded more to joint attention over time; however, late preterm infants presented significantly lower levels at both time points. Furthermore, late preterm and full-term infants seemed to display different initiating joint attention trajectories from 12 to 15 months. Maternal behaviors did not influence joint attention nor moderate the effect of prematurity. Results suggest that late prematurity may have a differential impact on distinct behavioral dimensions of joint attention, potentially reflecting the specific mental processes involved in RJA and IJA.

Developmental Shift in Multimodal Cue Usage in Early Mother‐Child Conversational Initiation

Jun Ho Chai, Barbara Zapiór, Eon‐Suk Ko — Sat, 06 Jun 2026 10:07:56 -0700

ABSTRACT

Early mother–child conversational initiation is increasingly understood as a developmentally dynamic, embodied, and socially embedded process in which caregivers and children coordinate multimodal cues, including gaze, gesture, touch, and speech, to establish joint attention and meaning. Drawing on an existing audio-visual corpus of Korean mother–child interactions from 35 dyads aged 8–27 months, sampled across stages of language and motor development, we examine how nonverbal cues preceding verbal conversational onset vary with child age, sex, and speaker role. Results show that initiatory multimodal cues decline with age, especially in conversational blocks where mothers initiate the vocal exchanges, a pattern consistent with a developmental shift toward more verbally-driven interactional strategies. Look cues and object-oriented tactile cues were the most frequent signals preceding conversational blocks, highlighting their central role in initiating exchanges. In addition, initiators produce more initiatory multimodal cues than their partners in the moments preceding conversational onset, pointing to a strategic use of multimodal signals to capture attention and frame the upcoming verbal interaction. Overall, the findings highlight the key role of gaze and object-oriented action in early interaction and the adaptability of communicative strategies in mother–child exchanges as children take on a greater role in verbal initiation.

Infants Adapt Sitting to a Decreasing Base of Support

Jaya Rachwani, Orit Herzberg, Karen E. Adolph — Sat, 06 Jun 2026 10:04:10 -0700

ABSTRACT

As infants acquire postural control, they learn to keep balance over a progressively smaller base of support. We systematically tested the development of postural control from a floor sit, where infants' thighs and lower legs are supported by the ground, to a bench sit, where infants' lower legs are unsupported. Six- to 9-month-old infants (N = 25) began in a floor sit with their thighs on a stationary platform and lower legs on a platform that was lowered in 2-cm increments until infants were in a bench sit with feet dangling in the air or they lost balance and fell. Each decrease in the height of the bottom platform decreased infants' base of support and made postural control more challenging. Although bench sitting was presumably novel, all infants maintained balance in a bench sit if their feet rested on the ground. However, infants' trunk control predicted their ability to maintain balance with their feet dangling in the air. Infants with more trunk control compensated for decreased support by progressively increasing their trunk-thigh angle (leaning backward rather than forward) and hence keeping their center of mass within their decreasing base of support. Thus, improvements in trunk control provide infants with more efficient postural-control strategies to cope with novel threats to balance. We suggest that flexibility and adaptability are integral to learning to sit and prepare infants for the next challenges in motor development.

Toward Understanding Free‐Flowing Manual Object Contact: Real‐Time Interaction Between Body Position and Object Type in 9‐Month‐Olds

Tue, 02 Jun 2026 19:44:11 -0700

ABSTRACT

Infants manually contact objects differently depending on their body position and the physical properties of objects. Previous studies have examined these factors separately, in structured laboratory settings, and laid the foundation for the investigation of the interaction of these elements. The current study revisits ideas from structured research in less controlled conditions by investigating how body position and the type of object shape manual contact with objects during free-flowing play. Nine-month-old infants (N = 80) participated in a semi-structured dyadic play session with their caregiver, interacting with four objects of two different kinds - two small and graspable objects; and two larger and stationary objects requiring specific actions to elicit an outcome (e.g., button pressing to make balls spin). The dyad was not constrained in terms of positioning, location on the floor, or movement around the room. We examined how the duration and frequency of infants' manual contact with objects varied based on the real-time interaction between object type and body position. The results indicate that infants contacted objects more frequently while sitting independently compared to other positions. Stationary objects were contacted more frequently but for shorter durations than graspable objects, regardless of the body position. Infants contacted graspable objects longer while sitting independently (compared to other positions), however, stationary objects were contacted with similar durations for all body positions. We found that durations of object contact depend on the interaction between object type and body position, which is more complex than what could be predicted by studies that examined these factors in isolation. These results highlight the need to study multiple interacting elements in less controlled settings.

Tuning in to Development: How Home Music Activities Relate to Language and Motor Skills in Toddlers From Monolingual and Multilingual Home Environments

Ran Wei, Sarah Surrain, Gigi Luk, Meredith L. Rowe — Sun, 31 May 2026 20:14:42 -0700

ABSTRACT

Music and language are both multimodal inputs that shape early development, supporting shared attention, sensorimotor coordination, and embodied engagement. Although structured musical training has been linked to enhanced language outcomes, the implications of informal, home-based music activities remain less understood, particularly among children who hear multiple languages at home. Guided by an embodied, embedded, ecological, enactive, and extended framework, this study examines how home music activities relate to language and motor development among toddlers with high English exposure (HE; ≥ 70% English) or high non-English exposure (HNE; > 30% non-English). Participants included 106 families with 18- to 31-month-olds (M = 23.13), comprising pre-pandemic lab-based (n = 30) and remote online (n = 76) cohorts. Parents reported children's engagement in music and non-music activities currently and retrospectively for infancy. Results revealed interactions between music activities and language exposure. HE toddlers exhibited higher English vocabulary and pragmatic skills than HNE toddlers. However, HNE toddlers who participated in more music activities demonstrated vocabulary and pragmatic abilities similar to their HE counterparts. Music activities also correlated with gross motor and perception-action skills. Findings highlight music's embodied and enactive contributions to language and motor development and provide novel insights into how music relates to HNE children's development.

What Is the Baby “Saying”? Adults' Interpretation of Infants' Pointing Gestures

Ran Wei, Ulf Liszkowski, Paul L. Harris, Meredith L. Rowe — Thu, 28 May 2026 20:07:03 -0700

ABSTRACT

Infants' early pointing gestures predict their language development. One hypothesized mechanism for this relation is that pointing elicits caregivers' responses that facilitate word learning. This contingent-response hypothesis presupposes that adults can accurately interpret the communicative intent underlying infants' points, yet this has not been directly tested. Across three experiments, we examined whether adults can reliably distinguish among five pointing intent categories established in prior research, namely requestive, expressive declarative, spontaneous informative declarative, elicited informative declarative, and interrogative. In Experiment 1, 58 students interpreted infant pointing gestures in 28 video clips, identifying the most prototypical exemplars of each intent. In Experiments 2 and 3, 76 students, 53 U.S. parents, and 38 German parents rated their confidence in each intent for these 5 prototypical clips and reported how they would respond. Across all samples, participants assigned significantly higher confidence to the target intent than to alternatives and reported intent-differentiated responses. We found few differences between students and parents or between American and German parents, suggesting that interpretation of prototypical pointing gestures is not strongly dependent on child-rearing experience or cultural background, though comparisons were limited to two Western societies. These findings establish a key precondition for the contingent-response hypothesis: adults possess the interpretive capacity to provide intent-appropriate input in response to infant pointing.

Predicting Dyadic Synchrony: A Theory‐Driven Machine Learning Approach

Fri, 15 May 2026 09:09:34 -0700

ABSTRACT

Dyadic synchrony, defined as the coordination of emotional and behavioral signals between mother and child, is a central mechanism supporting early socioemotional development. However, predicting its emergence remains challenging because relational and psychological influences may combine in complex, context-sensitive ways that are not easily captured by traditional linear models. The present study applied a theory-guided machine learning approach to examine predictors of observed synchrony in 204 mother–child dyads (mean maternal age = 33.7 years, 89% White, 52.6%, boys mean children's age = 11.71 months), drawn from the PEACE (Perinatal Experiences and COVID-19 Effects) Study, with data collected between November 2021 and August 2022. Dyadic synchrony and affective behaviors were coded from free-play interactions using the Coding Interactive Behavior system, and psychological predictors included maternal anxiety, resilience, parenting stress, and observed affective expressions. Random Forest models were compared with linear regression, and model interpretation was supported using SHAP and ALE techniques. Linear regression showed slightly stronger predictive performance, whereas Random Forest revealed potentially meaningful non-linear and interaction-based patterns. In particular, synchrony tended to decrease under conditions reflecting imbalance between parenting stress and child positive affect, and affective mismatch showed a non-monotonic association with synchrony. These findings highlight the context-dependent nature of dyadic coordination and suggest that synchrony may emerge from configurations of stress, affect, and emotional alignment rather than from simple additive effects. More broadly, the study illustrates how interpretable machine learning can complement traditional statistical models to explore complex relational processes in early development.

Capturing Joint Attention: Theoretical Foundations and Their Implications for the Link Between Joint Attention and Vocabulary Growth

Sat, 09 May 2026 09:50:49 -0700

ABSTRACT

Despite decades of research, we still know less than we would like about the association between joint attention (JA) and language acquisition. One reason for this is that we still have not agreed how to define, operationalize, and measure joint attention. The goal of this study is to examine the impact of applying two different joint attention operationalization schemes—reflecting distinct theoretical perspectives—to the same dataset of video-recordings of semi-naturalistic toy-play interactions between 12-month-old children and their caregivers (N = 39). We identified joint attention around relevant naming events to determine how these choices affect interpretations of the role of joint attention in vocabulary acquisition. We compared a gaze-based coding scheme, consistent with associative accounts of joint attention, with a socially coordinated joint attention coding scheme, based on social-pragmatic theories that require, in addition to gaze overlap, evidence of shared awareness. We then extracted two measures from each scheme: average joint attention event duration and the temporal overlap between joint attention events and naming events (JA overlap). We found that while measures of joint attention were predictive of later expressive vocabulary above and beyond language-based measures in both coding schemes, model comparison based on AIC/BIC indicated that joint attention defined as coordinated JA was preferred over joint attention defined as gaze overlap. Furthermore, the best fitting model predicting later vocabulary favored predictors based on the coordinated JA scheme. Our results suggest that a social operationalization of joint attention leads to better predictors of later vocabulary size than a gaze-based operationalization of joint attention. In addition, the current study emphasizes the critical role of methodological choices in understanding how and why joint attention is associated with vocabulary size.

Exploring Nurturing Care Practices and Early Socio‐Cognitive Development in an Afro‐Colombian Community: Evidence From San Basilio de Palenque

Karol Gutiérrez‐Ruiz, Yanin Santoya Montes — Sat, 09 May 2026 09:49:45 -0700

ABSTRACT

The first 1000 days of life represent a sensitive period for socio-cognitive development, during which culturally embedded caregiving plays a foundational role. However, evidence from Afrodescendant rural populations remains scarce. This exploratory cross-sectional descriptive–correlational study examined associations between caregiver-reported caregiving practices and early socio-cognitive indicators in 26 children (9–36 months; M = 19.27, SD = 7.63) and their caregivers in San Basilio de Palenque, a culturally distinctive Afro-Colombian community. Caregiving practices were assessed using the Care Practices Scale, which captures the reported frequency and consistency of everyday routines and was interpreted within a nurturing care framework rather than as a direct measure of caregiving quality. Children's early socio-cognitive indicators were assessed with the Early Socio-Cognitive Development Checklist. Associations were examined using age- and sex-adjusted partial Pearson correlations, with Benjamini–Hochberg false discovery rate control applied to a pre-specified family of primary indicators. Caregivers reported high emotional warmth and frequent engagement in structured routines despite socioeconomic adversity. Several age- and sex-adjusted associations reached conventional significance (two-tailed p < 0.05), but none remained statistically significant after false discovery rate control (q = 0.05). Nominal patterns (prior to correction) clustered around joint-attention–related behaviors and receptive language and tended to co-occur with routine-based practices (e.g., hygiene) and relational guidance, suggesting culturally plausible hypotheses about how nurturing care may be scaffolded through everyday, interactionally dense routines. Findings are exploratory and should be interpreted cautiously. Overall, this study underscores the need for larger, multimethod, longitudinal research to test culturally grounded pathways of nurturing care in underrepresented Afrodescendant rural caregiving ecologies.

Issue Information

Mon, 04 May 2026 20:51:47 -0700

No abstract is available for this article.

Parental Mind‐Mindedness and Child Executive Functions During Toddlerhood: A Biparental and Longitudinal Study

Mon, 04 May 2026 20:51:15 -0700

ABSTRACT

Executive functions (EF) are crucial for children's optimal functioning in several spheres. Therefore, understanding the factors involved in their early development is of paramount importance. The present longitudinal study aimed to obtain deeper insight into the role of fathers' and mothers' mind-mindedness in toddlers' EF. The sample included 131 families visited at home when children were aged around 6 (T1) and 19 (T2) months. At T1, both parents' mind-mindedness was rated, based on a 10-min parent-infant free play period, using a widely recognized and validated coding system capturing the number of appropriate and non-attuned comments on the child's mental states (emotions, thoughts, needs, and desires). At T2, child EF were measured with three behavioral tasks targeting inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility, and working memory. Regressions revealed that mothers' non-attuned comments were negatively and prospectively associated with all components of toddlers' EF, whereas mothers' appropriate comments were positively and prospectively associated with cognitive flexibility. Fathers' mind-mindedness was not associated with any EF components. The findings highlight the importance of maternal mind-mindedness in infancy for child EF during toddlerhood. This study provides novel insights into how maternal appropriate and non-attuned comments on children's mental states are distinctly related to child EF early in life.

Parent Speech in Free Play Is Guided by Infant Attention, But Organized by Object Familiarity

Anne‐Kathrin Mahlke, Shreya Venkatesan, Nivedita Mani — Mon, 04 May 2026 20:47:58 -0700

ABSTRACT

Successful coordination of infant attention and parent speech during free play supports infants' language development. Parents' responsive linguistic input reduces uncertainty in label-referent associations and provides information at moments of infants' increased attention and receptiveness. While infants frequently lead the dyads' focus of attention, parent speech has been shown to scaffold infants' attention toward fixated objects. So far, however, little is known about the qualitative characteristics of parent speech during such interactions, and their effects on infants' attention. Here, we analyzed the role of the content and communicative intent of caregivers' speech to their 18-month-old infants (N = 31) during free play when infants or parents led an interaction, and when parent speech co-occurred with infants' sustained attention. Interactions were most likely to be infant-led, both temporally and topically, and parents' topically aligned, but not misaligned speech was associated with infants' sustained attention. Qualitative analysis of speech types revealed mostly object-focused speech in interactions with familiar objects, but a broader range of speech types in interactions with novel objects. We explain this pattern by suggesting that speech in interactions with familiar objects is structured by shared experience, whereas the lack of common ground with novel objects potentially induces parents to use more varied speech to engage their infants.