Joint attention

Joint attention or shared attention is the shared focus of two individuals on an object. It is achieved when one individual alerts another to an object by means of eye-gazing, pointing or other verbal or non-verbal indications. An individual gazes at another individual, points to an object and then returns their gaze to the individual. Scaife and Bruner were the first researchers to present a cross-sectional description of children's ability to follow eye gaze in 1975. They found that most eight- to ten-month-old children followed a line of regard, and that all 11- to 14-month-old children did so. This early research showed it was possible for an adult to bring certain objects in the environment to an infant's attention using eye gaze.

Subsequent research demonstrates that two important skills in joint attention are following eye gaze and identifying intention. The ability to share gaze with another individual is an important skill in establishing reference. The ability to identify intention is important in a child's ability to learn language and direct the attention of others. Joint attention is important for many aspects of language development including comprehension, production and word learning. Episodes of joint attention provide children with information about their environment, allowing individuals to establish reference from spoken language and learn words. Socio-emotional development and the ability to take part in normal relationships are also influenced by joint attention abilities. The ability to establish joint attention may be negatively affected by deafness, blindness, and developmental disorders such as autism.

Other animals such as great apes, dogs, and horses also show some elements of joint attention.

Defining levels of joint attention is important in determining if children are engaging in age-appropriate joint attention. There are three levels of joint attention: triadic, dyadic, and shared gaze.

Triadic joint attention is the highest level of joint attention and involves two individuals looking at an object. Each individual must understand that the other individual is looking at the same object and realize that there is an element of shared attention. For an instance of social engagement to count as triadic joint attention it requires at least two individuals attending to an object or focusing their attention on each other. Additionally, the individual must display awareness that focus is shared between himself or herself and another individual. Triadic attention is marked by the individual looking back to the other individual after looking at the object.

Dyadic joint attention is a conversation-like behavior that individuals engage in. This is especially true for human adults and infants, who engage in this behavior starting at two months of age. Adults and infants take turns exchanging facial expressions, noises, and in the case of the adult, speech. Sensitivity to dyadic orientation plays a major role in the development of dyadic attention. Infants must be able to correctly orient towards in response to the attention seeking interaction.

Shared gaze occurs when two individuals are simply looking at an object. Shared gaze is the lowest level of joint attention. Evidence has demonstrated the adaptive value of shared gaze; it allows quicker completion of various group effort related tasks It is likely an important evolved trait allowing for individuals to communicate in simple and directed manner. It has been argued that shared gaze is one of the main precursors to theory of mind.

Individuals who engage in triadic joint attention must understand both gaze and intention to establish common reference. Gaze refers to a child's understanding of the link between mental activity and the physical act of seeing. Intention refers to the child's ability to understand the goal of another person's mental processes.