Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

The capacity for joint visual attention in the infant

Abstract

LITTLE is known about how visual attention of the mother–infant pair is directed jointly to objects and events in the visual surround during the first year of the child's life. To what extent does the child follow the mother's lead and the mother the child's, and what are the processes involved? The ability of the infant to respond successfully to such signals allows the mother to isolate and highlight a much wider range of environmental features than if the infant ignores her attention-directing efforts. We report a preliminary investigation of the extent of the infant's ability to follow changes in adult gaze direction during the first year of life.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Flavell, J. H., The Developmental Psychology of Jean Piaget (Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 1963).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  2. Schaffer, H. R., Bull. Br. Psychol. Soc., 27, 209 (1974).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

SCAIFE, M., BRUNER, J. The capacity for joint visual attention in the infant. Nature 253, 265–266 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1038/253265a0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/253265a0

This article is cited by

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing