Social and emotional contexts predict the development of gaze following in early infancy

The development of gaze following begins in early infancy and its developmental foundation has been under heavy debate. Using a longitudinal design (N = 118), we demonstrate that attachment quality predicts individual differences in the onset of gaze following, at 6 months of age, and that maternal postpartum depression predicts later gaze following, at 10 months. In addition, we report longitudinal stability in gaze following from 6 to 10 months. A full path model (using attachment, maternal depression, and gaze following at 6) accounted for 21 % of variance in gaze following at 10 months. These results suggest an experience-dependent development of gaze following, driven by the infant’s own motivation to interact and engage with others (the social-first perspective).视线追随（gaze following）的发展始于婴儿早期，其发育基础长期以来饱受争议。本研究采用纵向设计（样本量N=118），证实依恋质量可预测6月龄时视线追随出现的个体差异，而母亲产后抑郁则可预测10月龄时的后续视线追随表现。此外，本研究还报告了6至10月龄间视线追随的纵向稳定性。完整路径模型（纳入6月龄时的依恋水平、母亲抑郁情况及视线追随表现）可解释10月龄时视线追随表现21%的变异量。上述结果表明，视线追随的发展依赖于后天经验，其驱动力源于婴儿自身与他人互动、参与的动机（即“社会优先”视角）。