Joint Attention

Joint attention refers to the shared focus of two individuals (usually a young child and an adult) on an object or experience. Joint attention behaviors in infancy can be manifested as responses to others’ bids or one’s own spontaneous initiation of bids, each of which tend to be demonstrated nonverbally via eye contact, gaze, gesturing, and/or facial expressions. Infants may exchange facial expressions with adults starting at 2 months of age and orient themselves toward others at 6 months at age. However, their ability to initiate joint attention should gradually develop around 9 months of age; they should continue to increase their capacity for response to bids through approximately 18 months of age. Joint attention has been purported to have associations with information processing, intellectual ...