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Infants of blind parents pay less attention to eyes

Sighted infants of blind parents also exhibit advanced visual attention and memory skills, Birkbeck study finds

New research into the development of infants with blind parents has highlighted the adaptability of babies’ brains to specific social environments.

The study reveals that sighted infants of blind parents (SIBP) pay less attention to adults’ eye gaze than infants with sighted parents –  suggesting that that all infants actively learn from communicating with their parents and adjust how best to interact with them. 

Further to this, the SIBP actually demonstrated advanced visual attention and memory skills when they were eight months old.

The study, published in the Cell Press journal, Current Biology, was carried out by an international team of developmental psychologists from Birkbeck, University of London, La Trobe University, Australia, and King’s College London.

The researchers used eye-tracking technology to assess face-scanning and gaze-following in 14 SIBP at six to ten months and then again at 12 to 16 months of age. They also watched as the infants interacted with their blind parent and with an unfamiliar sighted adult. They then compared these results with those of a control group of infants of sighted parents.

Dr Atsushi Senju of Birkbeck’s Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, and lead author of the study, said: “Eye gaze is a very important channel for communication, and human infants show amazing skills in recognising and reacting to adults' gaze.

“So, we decided to investigate how infants develop their attention to adults' eye gaze when their primary caregiver can't make eye contact or react to infants' gaze because they can't see, and whether it affects overall development of social communication and cognition.

“Our study showed that how adults make eye contact with babies affects the way they learn to attend to adults' eye gaze.”

Dr Senju noted that he and his colleagues were surprised to discover that the SIBP showed advanced visual attention and memory skills when they were eight months old.

He said: “This may occur as the need for SIBP to switch between visual and alternative modes of communication enhances the development of attention, similar to that observed in bilingually-exposed infants.

“Beyond this observed phenomenon, it is important to note that these infants showed typical overall social communication development.”

The researchers don’t yet know how long lasting the differences in the infants born to blind parents will be, though they note it is possible they might diminish as children interact more with peers and other sighted adults.

The team is now conducting a follow-up study with these SIBP children at the age of three to investigate their longer-term development. In the near future, they also aim to compare their development with another group of babies whose communication with parents is more 'visual' — hearing infants of deaf parents.

This work was supported by a UK Medical Research Council Career Development Award, a UK Economic and Social Research Council Research Fellowship, the BASIS funding consortium led by Autistica and a UK Medical Research Council Programme Grant.

Read the paper: Current Biology, Senju et al. “Early social experience affects the development of eye gaze processing

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