The Neural Mechanisms of Joint Attention

Abstract

Joint attention behaviors involve sharing attention with others to an object or event by means of eye-gazing or pointing, which form the common basis for communication. There are two types of these behaviors: responding to joint attention (RJA) and initiating joint attention (IJA). RJA is the ability to follow the gaze of others, suggesting reception of a social signal from others; IJA is the ability to voluntarily direct the attention of others, to share the experience of an object or event, suggesting transmission of a social signal to others. Infants experience these roles (as signal receiver and signal transmitter) throughout the first year of life and learn social cognitive skills. Recent neuroimaging studies indicate that joint attention is supported by widely distributed neural systems with nodes in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, the orbitofrontal cortex and insula, the anterior and posterior cingulate cortex, the superior temporal cortex, the precuneus and parietal cortex, and the amygdala and striatum.