Joint attention at preschool age

Abstract

The article deals with the functions of joint attention with regard to ontogenetic development of arbitrariness and social coordination of group activity of preschool children. It is shown that the concepts of joint attention cover much more than just “visual joint attention” and require to consider of other forms of manifestations of mutual participation in joint activities. The manifestation of joint attention on the part of children themselves without the participation of adults is studied in the article. Response and initiation of joint attention are considered not only in the adult-child dyads, but also in a larger group of preschool children. The study involved 157 preschool children, who were organized during the experiment in subgroups to jointly solve problem situations. It is proved that in the structure of the regulation of joint activity different forms of manifestation of joint attention provide an afferent synthesis of the conditions of activity, facilitates the analysis of internal and external conditions of joint activity, the development of a program of conscientious activity.