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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Davis, California » Western Human Nutrition Research Center » Immunity and Disease Prevention Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #411740
Research Project: Impact of Diet on Intestinal Microbiota, Gut Health and Immune Function

Location: Immunity and Disease Prevention Research

Title: A cross-cultural analysis of infants' spatial attention on the infant orienting with attention (IOWA) task

Author
item DEBOLT, MICHAELA - University Of California, Davis
item GEORGE, MATTHEWS - University Of Malawi
item MALETA, KENNETH - University Of Malawi
item ROSS-SHEEHY, SHANNON - University Of Tennessee
item STEWART, CHRISTINE - University Of California, Davis
item Caswell, Bess
item PRADO, ELIZABETH - University Of California, Davis
item OAKES, LISA - University Of California, Davis

Submitted to: Child Development
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/21/2023
Publication Date: 1/12/2024
Citation: Debolt, M.C., George, M., Maleta, K., Ross-Sheehy, S., Stewart, C., Caswell, B.L., Prado, E.L., Oakes, L.M. 2024. A cross-cultural analysis of infants' spatial attention on the infant orienting with attention (IOWA) task. Child Development. 20/e13622. https://doi.org/10.1111/mcn.13622.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/mcn.13622

Interpretive Summary: Research with Western samples has uncovered the rapid development of infants’ visual attention. We evaluated visual-spatial attention in 6- to 9-month-old infants living in rural Malawi (N = 511) or suburban California, USA (N = 57). Using a computer task that tracks how quickly and accurately infants shift their gaze to a target image, we found that infants were faster and more accurate to fixate a peripheral target when a cue validly predicted the target location and were slower and less accurate when the cue was invalid. However, compared to US infants, Malawian infants took longer to fixate the target and were more accurate. The results suggest that some aspects of visual attention development in infancy are consistent across widely different living environments, and some aspects may be more context-dependent.

Technical Abstract: Research with Western samples has uncovered the rapid development of infants’ visual attention. Here, we evaluated visuo-spatial attention in 6- to 9-month-old infants living in rural Malawi (N = 511; n_Boys= 255, n_Yao= 427) or suburban California, USA (N = 57, n_Boys= 29, n_White = 37). Using the Infant Orienting With Attention (IOWA) task, we found that infants were faster and more accurate to fixate a peripheral target when a cue validly predicted the target location and were slower and less accurate when the cue was invalid. However, compared to US infants, Malawian infants took longer to fixate the target and were more accurate. The effect of differences in lived experience on the development of visual attention is discussed.