Developmental changes of referential looks in 7-and 9-month-olds: A transition from dyadic to proto-referential looks

Abstract

Clear and observable social referencing behavior only emerges when infants are old enough to regulate their own behavior according to adult's emotional messages, but like the findings from other studies on infants' social looking behavior, infants before their first birthday may demonstrate gradual change in their referential looking behavior. In this paper, we attempted to examine possible developmental changes in the infants' referential looking behavior at 7 and 9 months, especially in terms of where and whom they look to for referencing. By analyzing the looks in the particular sequence to referees, we found that infants became more willing to look at a familiarized stranger's face as well as mother's body, as they got older. This might suggest a qualitative change in the referential looking behavior during this period of infancy.