Responding To Joint Attention Research Articles

Social Recognition of Joint Attention Cycles in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders.

Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are characterized by impairments in joint attention (JA) comprising two components: responding to JA (RJA) and initiating JA (IJA). RJA and IJA are considered two interrelated aspects of JA, related to different stages of infant development. While recent technologies have been used to characterize RJA emerging in earlier childhood, only a limited number of studies have attempted to explore IJA, which progressively becomes evident as a hallmark of ASD. This study aims to achieve the social recognition of both RJA and IJA by vision-based human behavior perception through a multi-modal framework automatically and comprehensively. The first three layers of this framework leverage localization, feature extraction, and activity recognition. On this basis, three critical activities in JA are recognized: attention estimation, spontaneous pointing, and showing actions. Then different behaviors are linked through the fourth layer, semantic interpretation, to model the JA event. The proposed framework is evaluated on experiments of four groups: 7 children with ASD, 5 children with mental retardation (MR), 5 children with developmental language disorder (DLD), and 3 typically developed children (TD). Experimental results compared with human codings demonstrate recognition reliability with an intra-class coefficient of 0.959. In addition, statistical analysis suggests significant group difference and correlations. The multi-modal human behavior perception-based framework is a feasible solution for the recognition of joint attention in unconstrained environments. Thus the proposed approach has the potential to improve the clinical diagnosis of autism by offering quantitative monitoring and statistical analysis.

A Longitudinal Study of Joint Attention, Motor Imitation and Language Development in Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder in Taiwan.

This longitudinal study examined early predictors of language development in 74 young children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in Taiwan. Participants were assessed twice (initial age between 17 and 35 months) on responding to joint attention (RJA), initiating joint attention (IJA), motor imitation with objects (object imitation; OI) and without objects (manual imitation; MI), and receptive and expressive language. The two assessments were 18 months apart. Results showed that both RJA and MI concurrently and longitudinally predicted receptive and expressive language across the two assessments. These findings were not entirely consistent with the limited and mixed findings of Western longitudinal studies. However, they have implications for early interventions aiming to facilitate language development in children with ASD internationally.

Dynamic eye-tracking evaluation of responding joint attention abilities and face scanning patterns in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

There has been growing evidence that autistic traits are more represented in children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The purpose of this study was to investigate autistic traits associated with responding joint attention (RJA) abilities and face scanning patterns using eye-tracking in children with ADHD, and to compare with typically developing peers (TDs). All child participants viewed a series of videos related to male and female children under congruent and incongruent conditions during eye-tracking evaluation. The object and face regions of the models within the videos were determined as areas of interest (AOIs). Children with ADHD had significantly elevated ratings of autistic traits than TDs. Time course analysis of the proportion of fixations (PoF) on object region determined that children with ADHD tended to show more interest in the objects and had higher PoF on face interest area, including eyes and mouth compared to TD children in the videos when the male/female model shifts his/her gaze to the corner. Higher SRS scores were associated with higher PoF on the Face AOI in both groups. Given these findings, social skill interventions directly targeting the core deficits of RJA and problems in facial scanning appears to be beneficial in children with ADHD.

Responding to joint attention as a developmental catalyst: Longitudinal associations with language and social responsiveness.

Joint attention (JA), infants' ability to engage in triadic attention with another person and a separate object or event, emerges in infancy. Responding to joint attention (RJA) develops earlier than initiating joint attention (IJA) and may benefit from a reconceptualization from a competence to a skill that varies in performance. Investigating associations between RJA performance and important skills of toddlerhood such as language, social responsiveness, and executive function (EF) in typically developing samples can better elucidate how RJA may serve as a developmental precursor to later dimensional skills, with implications for both typical and atypical development. Here, 210 (82% White) infants completed the Dimensional Joint Attention Assessment (DJAA), a naturalistic play-based assessment of RJA, at 8-15months. At 16-38months social responsiveness, verbal ability, and EF were assessed. Multilevel models showed that DJAA scores were associated with later verbal abilities and parent-reported social responsiveness. Exploratory analyses showed trend-level associations between RJA and EF. Results establish the content validity of the DJAA as a measure of RJA, and longitudinal associations with later verbal ability and social responsiveness. Future work should examine EF emergence and consolidation, and RJA and later EF associations.

RJAfinder: An automated tool for quantification of responding to joint attention behaviors in autism spectrum disorder using eye tracking data.

Deficits in responding to joint attention (RJA) are early symptoms of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Currently, no automated tools exist for identifying and quantifying RJA behaviors. A few eye tracking studies have investigated RJA in ASD children but have produced conflicting results. In addition, little is known about the trajectory of RJA development through developmental age. Here, a new video was designed including 12 clips of an actor pointing to or looking at an object. Eye tracking technology was used to monitor RJA in three groups: 143 ASD children assessed with the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R) and the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) (4-7 years old), 113 age- and gender-matched typically developing children (TDC), and 43 typically developing adults (TDA) (19-32 years old). RJAfinder was developed in R and MATLAB to quantify RJA events from the eye tracking data. RJA events were compared among the three groups. Spearman correlation coefficients between total number of RJA events in ASD and the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS) scores were calculated. A logistic regression model was built using the average valid sampling rate and the total number of RJA events as two predictive variables to classify ASD and TDC groups. ASD children displayed statistically significantly less RJA events than the TDC and TDA groups with medium-to-large-sized effects. ASD and TDC children both displayed more RJA events in response to pointing stimuli than to looking stimuli. Our logistic regression model predicted ASD tendency with 0.76 accuracy in the testing set. RJA ability improved more slowly between the ages of 4-7 years old in the ASD group than in the TDC group. In ASD children, RJA ability showed negative correlation with SRS total T-score as well as the scores of five subdomains. Our study provides an automated tool for quantifying RJA and insights for the study of RJA in ASD children, which may help improve ASD screening, subtyping, and behavior interventions.

Quantifying latent social motivation and its associations with joint attention and language in infants at high and low likelihood for autism spectrum disorder.

Social motivation-the psychobiological predisposition for social orienting, seeking social contact, and maintaining social interaction-manifests in early infancy and is hypothesized to be foundational for social communication development in typical and atypical populations. However, the lack of infant social-motivation measures has hindered delineation of associations between infant social motivation, other early-arising social abilities such as joint attention, and language outcomes. To investigate how infant social motivation contributes to joint attention and language, this study utilizes a mixed longitudinal sample of 741 infants at high (HL=515) and low (LL=226) likelihood for ASD. Using moderated nonlinear factor analysis (MNLFA), we incorporated items from parent-report measures to establish a novel latent factor model of infant social motivation that exhibits measurement invariance by age, sex, and familial ASD likelihood. We then examined developmental associations between 6- and 12-month social motivation, joint attention at 12-15 months, and language at 24 months of age. On average, greater social-motivation growth from 6-12 months was associated with greater initiating joint attention (IJA) and trend-level increases in sophistication of responding to joint attention (RJA). IJA and RJA were both positively associated with 24-month language abilities. There were no additional associations between social motivation and future language in our path model. These findings substantiate a novel, theoretically driven approach to modeling social motivation and suggest a developmental cascade through which social motivation impacts other foundational skills. These findings have implications for the timing and nature of intervention targets to support social communication development in infancy. HIGHLIGHTS: We describe a novel, theoretically based model of infant social motivation wherein multiple parent-reported indicators contribute to a unitary latent social-motivation factor. Analyses revealed social-motivation factor scores exhibited measurement invariance for a longitudinal sample of infants at high and low familial ASD likelihood. Social-motivation growth from ages 6-12 months is associated with better 12-15-month joint attention abilities, which in turn are associated with greater 24-month language skills. Findings inform timing and targets of potential interventions to support healthy social communication in the first year of life.

Effects of Rhythmic Gymnastics on Joint Attention and Emotional Problems of Autistic Children: A Preliminary Investigation.

The adaptive rhythmic gymnastics (ARG) course has been specially designed for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The purpose of this study is to discover the influence of the course on the joint attention and emotional problems of ASD children. This study adopted A-B-A cross-subject multibaseline design in a single case research design. The joint attention behaviour of two 6-year-old ASD children was examined. The experiment process was recorded and coded, and the results were analysed. The results illustrated the following: (1) ARG is effective in promoting the development of joint attention in ASD children, but it has a better effect on increasing responding joint attention, and (2) to a certain extent, ARG can boost the classroom participation of ASD children and improve their emotional problems.

Enhancing Joint Attention Skills in Children on the Autism Spectrum through an Augmented Reality Technology-Mediated Intervention.

In the present study, the effects of an intervention based on an augmented reality technology called Pictogram Room were examined. The objective of the intervention was to improve the responding to joint attention (RJA) skills of gaze following and pointing in six children on the autism spectrum between 3 and 8 years old. A multiple baseline single-subject experimental design was conducted for 12 weeks in a school setting. Results indicated that all of the participant children improved performance in RJA following the intervention. Improvements were maintained over time and generalised to real-world situations. These findings demonstrate that autistic children can improve their RJA skills with a targeted and engaging intervention based on an accessible augmented reality technology tool.

Birthweight moderates the association between chronological age and infants' abilities to respond to cues for joint attention.

Infants born preterm are more likely than ever to survive, but relatively little is known about the factors that influence their subsequent sociocognitive development. Responding to joint attention (RJA) is a pivotal skill that is likely supported by biological preparedness at birth and ex-utero social experience. The goals of this study are to evaluate the relative roles of chronological age, gestation duration, and birthweight for early RJA and examine birthweight as a potential moderator of the associations between chronological age and RJA. This study leveraged a mixed longitudinal design of infants (N=256, obs=421) from 8 to 16 months of chronological age. Results show that chronological age and gestation duration both explain unique variation in RJA. Further, birthweight exhibits quadratic relations with RJA. Birthweight moderates the association between chronological age and RJA; infants born heavier demonstrate faster RJA growth compared to those born smaller. Findings suggest that birth weight, an index of nutrient sufficiency in utero and biological preparedness, may constrain or afford early RJA development, consistent with the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DoHAD) hypothesis. Findings inform our understanding of the roles of biological preparedness and experience in shaping RJA and help disaggregate potential mechanisms of prematurity-related challenges to social cognitive development.

Is left-behind a real reason for children's social cognition deficit? An fNIRS study on the effect of social interaction on left-behind preschooler's prefrontal activation.

The left-behind phenomenon, caused by parent out-migration, has become a common social issue and might lead to long-term and potential risks for children in rural areas of China. It is important to investigate the effect of social interaction on prefrontal activation of left-behind children in China because of possible effects of parent out-migration on children’s social cognition. We recruited 81 rural Chinese preschoolers aged 52–76 months (mean = 64.98 ± 6.321 months) preschoolers with three different statuses of parental out-migration (including non-, partially, and completely left-behind children). Using functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS), we compared behavior and brain activation and in three groups (non-, partially-, completely-left-behind children) under two different social interaction conditions (child-teacher and child-stranger situation). Results revealed that initiating joint attention (IJA) may evoke higher brain activation than responding to joint attention (RJA) in the prefrontal cortex (PFC), especially in the case of initiating joint attention with the stranger. In addition, the activation of joint attention was positively correlated with children’s language score, cognitive flexibility, and facial expression recognition. More importantly, partially-left-behind children evoked higher brain activation in the IJA condition and presented a higher language level than completely/non-left-behind children. The current study provides insight into the neural basis of left-behind children’s development and revealed for the first time that family economic level and left-behind status may contribute to the lower social cognition.

[The Neural Mechanisms of Joint Attention].

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.

Effects of attentional behaviours on infant visual preferences and object choice.

Many developmental studies have examined the effects of joint attention. However, it has been difficult to compare effects of initiating joint attention and responding to joint attention in infants. Here, we compared the effects of initiating joint attention and responding joint attention on object information processing, object preference, and facial preferences in infants. Thirty-seven infants (10 to 12 months of age) were shown stimuli in which a female gazed towards or away from an object. Participants were assigned to initiating joint attention condition or responding joint attention condition. Results suggest that initiating joint attention promoted object information processing, whereas responding joint attention did not. Both joint attention conditions affected the facial preference for the person who engaged joint attention. In addition, after initiating joint attention, infants chose objects gazed by other person more often than after responding joint attention. It appears that attentional behaviours that precede the perception of certain stimuli affect infants' cognitive responses to those stimuli.

How do maternal interaction style and joint attention relate to language development in infants with Down syndrome and typically developing infants?

Down syndrome (DS) is more detrimental to language acquisition compared to other forms of learning disability. It has been shown that early social communication skills are important for language acquisition in the typical population; however few studies have examined the relationship between early social communication and language in DS. The aim of the current study is to compare the relationship between joint attention and concurrent language skills, and maternal interactive style and concurrent language skills in infants with DS and in typically developing (TD) infants matched for mental age. We also investigated if these relationships differ between children with DS and TD children. Twenty-five infants with DS (17–23 months) and 30 TD infants (9–11 months) were assessed on measures of joint attention, maternal interactive style and language. The results indicated a significant positive relationship between responding to joint attention (RJA) and concurrent language for the DS group, and a significant positive relationship between maternal positive expressed emotion (PEEM) and concurrent language for the TD group. We hypothesise that different social-communication factors are associated with language skills in DS, at least between 17 and 23 months of age compared to TD infants of similar non-verbal and general language abilities.

The "Social Gaze Space": A Taxonomy for Gaze-Based Communication in Triadic Interactions.

Humans substantially rely on non-verbal cues in their communication and interaction with others. The eyes represent a “simultaneous input-output device”: While we observe others and obtain information about their mental states (including feelings, thoughts, and intentions-to-act), our gaze simultaneously provides information about our own attention and inner experiences. This substantiates its pivotal role for the coordination of communication. The communicative and coordinative capacities – and their phylogenetic and ontogenetic impacts – become fully apparent in triadic interactions constituted in its simplest form by two persons and an object. Technological advances have sparked renewed interest in social gaze and provide new methodological approaches. Here we introduce the ‘Social Gaze Space’ as a new conceptual framework for the systematic study of gaze behavior during social information processing. It covers all possible categorical states, namely ‘partner-oriented,’ ‘object-oriented,’ ‘introspective,’ ‘initiating joint attention,’ and ‘responding joint attention.’ Different combinations of these states explain several interpersonal phenomena. We argue that this taxonomy distinguishes the most relevant interactional states along their distinctive features, and will showcase the implications for prominent social gaze phenomena. The taxonomy allows to identify research desiderates that have been neglected so far. We argue for a systematic investigation of these phenomena and discuss some related methodological issues.

Can Human–Robot Interaction Promote the Same Depth of Social Information Processing as Human–Human Interaction?

Recent studies on human–robot interactions have suggested that humanoid robots have considerable potential in social cognition research. However, the authors are not aware of any studies regarding social information processing from human–robot interactions. To address this issue, we considered two types of social interaction tasks (initiating and responding joint attention tasks) and two types of interaction partners (robot and human partners). Distinguishing between these types of joint attention (JA) is important, because they are thought to reflect unique but common constellations of processes in human social cognition and social learning. Thirty-seven participants were recruited (Study 1: 20 participants, Study 2: 17 participants) for the current study, and they conducted a picture recognition social information processing task with either robot or human partners. The results of Study 1 suggested that participants who interacted with a humanoid robot achieved a better recognition memory performance in the initiating JA condition than in the responding JA condition. The results of Study 2 suggested that the human–human and human–robot interactions resulted in no quantifiable differences in recognition memory. We discuss the implications of our results for the utility of humanoid robots in social cognition studies and future research questions on human–robot interactions.

사회 학습 기제로서 IJA와 RJA의 비교: 인간-아바타 머리/손 상호작용을 이용한 연구

Joint Attention (JA) has been known to play a key role in human social learning. However, relative impact of different interaction types has yet to be rigorously examined because of limitation of existing methodologies to simulate human-to-human interaction. In the present study, we designed a new JA paradigm with emulating human-avatar interaction and virtual reality technologies, and tested the paradigm in two experiments with healthy adults. Our results indicated that initiating JA (IJA) condition was more effective than responding JA (RJA) condition for social learning in both head and hand interactions. Moreover, the hand interaction involved better information processing than the head interaction. The implication of the results, the validity of the new paradigm, and limitations of this study were discussed.

Brief Report: Joint Attention and Information Processing in Children with Higher Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorders.

Theory suggests that information processing during joint attention may be atypical in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). This hypothesis was tested in a study of school-aged children with higher functioning ASD and groups of children with symptoms of ADHD or typical development. The results indicated that the control groups displayed significantly better recognition memory for pictures studied in an initiating joint attention (IJA) rather than responding to joint attention (RJA) condition. This effect was not evident in the ASD group. The ASD group also recognized fewer pictures from the IJA condition than controls, but not the RJA condition. Atypical information processing may be a marker of the continued effects of joint attention disturbance in school aged children with ASD.

Longitudinal prediction of language emergence in infants at high and low risk for autism spectrum disorder.

This study used a prospective longitudinal design to examine the early developmental pathways that underlie language growth in infants at high risk (n = 50) and low risk (n = 34) for autism spectrum disorder in the first 18 months of life. While motor imitation and responding to joint attention (RJA) have both been found to predict expressive language in children with autism spectrum disorder and those with typical development, the longitudinal relation between these capacities has not yet been identified. As hypothesized, results revealed that 15-month RJA mediated the association between 12-month motor imitation and 18-month expressive vocabulary, even after controlling for earlier levels of RJA and vocabulary. These results provide new information about the developmental sequencing of skills relevant to language growth that may inform future intervention efforts for children at risk for language delay or other developmental challenges.

Simulating Cooperative Interactions to Investigate the Neural Correlates of Joint Attention

Event Abstract Back to Event Simulating Cooperative Interactions to Investigate the Neural Correlates of Joint Attention Nathan Caruana1*, Alexandra Woolgar1 and Jon Brock1 1 ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders , Cognitive Science, Australia Joint attention is a fundamental aspect of social cognition, enabling effective intersubjective experiences. However, due to lacking ecological measures, we currently know little about its neural representation, or how this diverges in developmental disorders such as autism. Joint attention is conceptualised as involving two distinct functions. Responding to joint attention (RJA) involves converging with someone else's focus of attention. Initiating joint attention (IJA), involves guiding others to converge with one's own attentional focus. The Parallel Distributed Processing (PDP) model accounts for the overlapping function, and developmental divergence of RJA and IJA. Consistent with this model, we anticipated that sources of activation associated with RJA and IJA would reflect partially independent regions, existing in a distally distributed, posterior and anterior network. Inspired by the second person perspective (2PP) approach to social cognition research, we developed a co-operative, virtual reality task for the acquisition of fMRI and MEG data. Using eye-tracking techniques, subjects interacted with an onscreen avatar, which responded contingently to their gaze. Subjects completed the task under the impression that they were interacting with a confederate, outside the scanner, who was controlling the avatar's eye movements. Our analyses have focused on comparing neural activation during the execution of RJA and IJA behaviour, as well as during conditions where participants complete the same task 'alone'. Our fMRI univariate whole brain analyses revealed temporoparietal and anterior networks associated with gaze detection, attention orienting and mentalising processes. An MEG case study, using the same task and a novel saccade-related beamforming analysis was also conducted to localise activation associated with preparing saccades for the execution of RJA and IJA. These data and critical issues in designing interactive paradigms will be discussed. Keywords: fMRI, MEG, eye tracking, joint attention, virtual reality Conference: XII International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON-XII), Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, 27 Jul - 31 Jul, 2014. Presentation Type: Poster Topic: Emotional and Social Processes Citation: Caruana N, Woolgar A and Brock J (2015). Simulating Cooperative Interactions to Investigate the Neural Correlates of Joint Attention. Conference Abstract: XII International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON-XII). doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2015.217.00046 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 19 Feb 2015; Published Online: 24 Apr 2015. * Correspondence: Mr. Nathan Caruana, ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, Cognitive Science, North Ryde, Australia, nathan.caruana@mq.edu.au Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Nathan Caruana Alexandra Woolgar Jon Brock Google Nathan Caruana Alexandra Woolgar Jon Brock Google Scholar Nathan Caruana Alexandra Woolgar Jon Brock PubMed Nathan Caruana Alexandra Woolgar Jon Brock Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.

Does video training increase adult and child joint attention and improve child outcomes? Two individual case studies in children with autism spectrum disorder

Background Children with autism spectrum disorder experience difficulty initiating (IJA) and responding to joint attention (RJA), which is critical to engagement in social interactions. The adult role in developing joint attention is widely accepted, but measurement of outcomes from adult training is rarely reported.Method Using a single case study design, this pilot study examined the joint attention of 1 adult and 2 children before and after the adult was trained using video feedback, to recognise joint attention opportunities and strategies to increase children's joint attention.Results There was a statistically significant increase in adult IJA and a corresponding increase in the children's RJA. Adult RJA increased minimally in response to minimal increase in the children's IJA. Visible increases in adult–child engagement occurred, but the activity chosen, documentation requirements, and one training session also influenced outcomes.Conclusions This study provides preliminary evidence that video training does increase adult joint attention attempts and improves social interaction and engagement in activities. Other factors affecting adult and child joint attention frequency are also identified.