Experience-sensitive effects on temporal profiles of social attention in early childhood

• DOI: 10.31234/osf.io/32ayx_v1
• Publication Date: 2025-04-24T07:08:35Z
• Authors: Victoria St. Clair; Teresa Del Bianco; Emily Jones; Mairead MacSweeney; roberto filippi; Peter Bright; Atsushi Senju; Evelyne Mercure

A bilingual’s highly variable early language learning demands may drive adaptations in social attention. For example, bilinguals show differences face processing compared to monolinguals, automatically orienting more rapidly faces and dwelling longer on mouths than monolinguals. However, it is difficult identify specific visual strategies from average-level data. This pre-registered study uses growth curve analysis within trials explore individual monolingual bilingual children’s dynamic allocation of attention two age groups: seven- 18-month-olds (n = 131 infants) 18- 34-month-olds 745 toddlers). Results that attentional trajectories for viewing static sensitive both environments. Specifically, young showed stronger systematic disengagement monolinguals after initial orientation. In contrast, older prioritised the mouth overall, driven by their steeper gradual increase mouth-looking over stimulus time. Age-dependent shifts time were also evident, particularly faces. infants, younger children earlier re-fixations children. toddlers, was stable Overall, results suggest modulates temporal structure all 34-months are consistent with hypothesis develop adaptive maximise information.