Joint Attention

Joint attention, also called shared attention, is the shared focus of two people on the same object, established when one person alerts the other to it through eye gaze, pointing, or other verbal or non-verbal cues. Michael Scaife and Jerome Bruner reported in 1975 that most eight- to ten-month-old infants would already follow an adult's line of regard toward an object, and that by eleven to fourteen months essentially all infants tested did so, showing that the capacity develops progressively over the first year and continues to mature through early childhood. Joint attention is considered important for language development, including how children come to comprehend and produce words and learn their meanings, as well as for broader socio-emotional development and the ability to take part in ordinary back-and-forth relationships with others. The capacity can be negatively affected by deafness, blindness, and developmental disorders such as autism, where difficulty coordinating eye gaze and alternating attention between another person and an object is considered a core deficit that impairs the establishment and maintenance of joint attention.