Do Communicative Signals During Joint Attention Promote Mutual Neural Processes?

• In Event: Poster Session 06
  In Poster Session: PS 06 Topic - Social Cognition

Abstract

Communicative signals such as eye contact have been shown to increase infants’ brain activation in response to visual stimuli (Hoehl et al., 2014) and considered to promote shared attention in early development (Siposova & Carpenter, 2019). In this study, we will assess whether communicative signals during joint attention between infant and caregiver will enhance dyads’ mutual neural processes. We propose that a higher degree of attention alignment will lead to more similar neuronal responses within the infant-caregiver dyad. To investigate this, we will use the method of steady-state visually evoked potentials (SSVEPs) in a dual electroencephalography (EEG) paradigm measuring the brain activity of infant and caregiver simultaneously. Specifically, we will assess infants’ and caregivers’ brain responses (SSVEPs) and their associations to rhythmic visual stimuli in order to quantify mutual neural processes during two conditions: joint attention (JA) with communicative signals and mutual reference (eye contact, pointing, infant-directed speech) vs. joint watching (JW) without communication or mutual reference. We aim to collect data from 30-50 typically developing 11-13-month-old infants and their mothers. To track mutual visual processing, we will present images flickered in 4 Hz depicting natural objects in front of a background. Flickering images will elicit SSVEPs at 4 Hz that can be measured with EEG (Köster et al., 2017), allowing to assess dynamic changes in infants’ and caregivers’ shared attention. Between conditions, we will manipulate communicative signals by instructing the caregiver to either establish mutual gaze with the infant and point to the images with a verbal comment upon stimulus onset or watch the images with the infant without communicative engagement. First, we predict that communicative signals during JA should lead to increased attention and thus enhanced visual processing (higher SSVEP amplitudes) both in infants and caregivers compared to JW. To test this, we will use a linear mixed effect model (LMM) with condition as fixed factor; with random slopes for condition and trial number in each infant; and with infants’ SSVEP power as dependent variable. The same analysis will be carried out for caregivers. Second, we hypothesize that communicative signals during JA will facilitate a greater alignment of attention (higher amplitude correlations between individual SSVEPs) that leads to more similar processing of perceptual input within the dyad. To test this, we will use an LMM with condition as fixed factor; with random slopes for condition and trial number in each dyad; and dyads’ SSVEP amplitude correlation value as dependent variable. To assess if communicative signals increase the similarity between the activated object representations of infant and caregiver, we will conduct representational similarity analysis (Cichy et al., 2014). This study will be the first to apply the method of SSVEPs as a measure of joint attention during early social interactions. In contrast to focusing solely on infants’ brain responses, this approach will enable new insights into how joint attention modulates both infants’ and caregivers’ brain activities and shapes shared visual experience. We hereby confirm that data collection is feasible, thus analysis within the given time frame will be completed.

Authors

• Anna Bánki, University of Vienna
  Presenting Author

• Moritz Köster, Freie Universität Berlin
  Non-Presenting Author

• Radoslaw Cichy, Freie Universität Berlin
  Non-Presenting Author

• Stefanie Hoehl, University of Vienna
  Non-Presenting Author