Touchscreens can promote infant object-interlocutor reference switching

Hudspeth, Kimberley and Lewis, Charlie (2024) Touchscreens can promote infant object-interlocutor reference switching. Infant Behavior and Development, 74: 101914. pp. 1-21. ISSN 0163-6383

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Abstract

We re-examine whether the type of object played with influences parent-infant joint attention. A within-participants comparison of 24 parent-9-month-old dyads, used head-mounted eye-tracking to measure parental naming and infant attention during play with touchscreen apps on a tablet computer or matched interactive toys. Infants engaged in sustained attention more to the toy than the tablet. Parents named objects less in toy play. Infants exhibited more gaze shifts between the object and their parent during tablet play. Contrasting previous studies, these findings suggest that joint tablet play can be more interactive than with toys, and raise questions about the recommendation that infants should not be exposed at all to such technology.