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

Juha Pyykkö, Ulla Ashorn, Eletina Chilora, Kenneth Maleta, Per Ashorn, Jukka Leppänen

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

    4 Citations (Scopus)
    5 Downloads (Pure)

    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 anticipatory looks and manual reaching responses), as correlations varied between -0.08 and 0.14. Measures of physical growth, and family socioeconomic characteristics were also not correlated with cognitive outcomes at 18 months in the current sample (correlations between -0.10 and
    0.19). The results do not support the use of the current tests of infant visual attention as a predictive tool for 18-month-old infants’ cognitive skills in the Malawian setting. The results are discussed in light of the potential limitations of the employed infant tests as well as potentially unique characteristics of early cognitive development in low-resource settings.
    Original languageEnglish
    Article numbere0239613
    JournalPLoS ONE
    Volume15
    Issue number10
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 1 Oct 2020
    Publication typeA1 Journal article-refereed

    Publication forum classification

    • Publication forum level 1

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Associations between individual variations in visual attention at 9 months and behavioral competencies at 18 months in rural Malawi'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this