Health & Medicine
Infants Of Blind Parents Pay Less Attention To Eye Contact When Communicating
Kathleen Lees
First Posted: Nov 19, 2015 07:31 PM EST
Children of blind parents allocate less attention to the eyes when learning nonverbal communication, according to a recent study.
Though eye gaze remains an important channel for communication--particularly as babies are learning to communicate with their primary caregivers--researchers assessed how infants responded when a parent or primary caregiver couldn't make eye contact or react to his or her gaze.
To do this, they used eye-tracking technology to assess face scanning and gaze following 14 sighted infants of blind parents at 6 to 10 months. Then, they assessed them again at 12 to 16 months. In addition to how the infants interacted with a blind parent, they also tested how they interacted with an unfamiliar, sighted adult.
Findings revealed that infants whose parents were blind paid less attention to adults' eyes. However, their development was otherwise completely typical, researchers say. And in some ways, they were more excelled.
"Infants of blind parents showed advanced visual attention and memory skills when they are 8 months old, which we did not expect when we started this project," Atsushi Senju of Birkbeck, University of London, said in a news release.
However, at this time researchers can't yet say how long the differences in infants may last.
The study is published in the journal Current Biology.
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TagsHealth, Human, communication, Infants, Babies, Children, Baby, Kids, eyes, Gaze, Adults, Parents, Caregivers, Development ©2024 ScienceWorldReport.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The window to the world of science news.
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First Posted: Nov 19, 2015 07:31 PM EST
Children of blind parents allocate less attention to the eyes when learning nonverbal communication, according to a recent study.
Though eye gaze remains an important channel for communication--particularly as babies are learning to communicate with their primary caregivers--researchers assessed how infants responded when a parent or primary caregiver couldn't make eye contact or react to his or her gaze.
To do this, they used eye-tracking technology to assess face scanning and gaze following 14 sighted infants of blind parents at 6 to 10 months. Then, they assessed them again at 12 to 16 months. In addition to how the infants interacted with a blind parent, they also tested how they interacted with an unfamiliar, sighted adult.
Findings revealed that infants whose parents were blind paid less attention to adults' eyes. However, their development was otherwise completely typical, researchers say. And in some ways, they were more excelled.
"Infants of blind parents showed advanced visual attention and memory skills when they are 8 months old, which we did not expect when we started this project," Atsushi Senju of Birkbeck, University of London, said in a news release.
However, at this time researchers can't yet say how long the differences in infants may last.
The study is published in the journal Current Biology.
Related Articles
Blind People: Device Lets You 'See' With Your Tongue
For more great science stories and general news, please visit our sister site, Headlines and Global News (HNGN).
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone