Infant Gaze Following Is Stable Across Markedly Different Cultures and Resilient to Family Adversities Associated With War and Climate Change
Gustaf Gredebäck, Kim Astor, Herbert Ainamani, Linda van den Berg, Linda Forssman, Jonathan Hall, Joshua Juvrud, Ben Kenward, Samson Mhizha, Wangchuk, Pär Nyström
Psychological Science · 2025 · Volume 36 · Issue 4
DOI: 10.1177/09567976251331042
Abstract
Gaze following in infancy allows triadic social interactions and a comprehension of other individuals and their surroundings. Despite its importance for early development, its ontology is debated, with theories suggesting that gaze following is either a universal core capacity or an experience-dependent learned behavior. A critical test of these theories among 809 nine-month-olds from Africa (Uganda and Zimbabwe), Europe (Sweden), and Asia (Bhutan) demonstrated that infants follow gaze to a similar degree regardless of environmental factors such as culture, maternal well-being (postpartum depression, well-being), or traumatic family events (related to war and/or climate change). These findings suggest that gaze following may be a universal, experience-expectant process that is resilient to adversity and similar across a wide range of human experiences—a core foundation for social development.
Keywords
infant, eye tracking, social cognition
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