Parenting: Parents' Eye Contact During Playtime Affects Baby's Attention Span

Inconsistent eye contact by a parent during playtime negatively affects babies' attention spans, according to new research from Indiana University. The research is available online in journal Current Biology.

"Caregivers who appear distracted or whose eyes wander a lot while their children play appear to negatively impact infants' burgeoning attention spans during a key stage of development," lead author Prof. Chen Yu said, as per Science Daily. Yu teaches in the IU Bloomington College of Arts and Sciences' Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences.

Yu stressed the importance of attention spans. "The ability of children to sustain attention is known as a strong indicator for later success in areas such as language acquisition, problem-solving and other key cognitive development milestones," Yu said.

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Parental Eye Contact and Attention Span

Yu and co-author Linda G. Smith are the first to use eye tracking data to see how the behavior of a parent impacts their baby's attention span in real time, Medical Daily reported. Smith teaches psychology and cognitive science at Indiana University.

In their study, the researchers observed 36 recruited parents and their one-year-old babies and observed them playing with a toy. The parents had a camera-mounted helmet that allowed the researchers to measure the direction of their gaze and see its effects on the babies' gaze, according to Medical Daily.

Parent's Eye Contact Absorbed By Baby

Researchers also found out that when parents focus their eyes on a toy, the baby held their attention for longer periods of time. The baby's attention span stretched to the time after their parent had looked away, EurekAlert reported.

The effect of the attention parents give was found to be dose dependent. The babies sustained longer attention spans to an object when the parent and baby jointly paid attention to the object.

What are your tips for holding a baby's attention span during playtime? Write your comments below.