Department of Human Sciences, University of Verona, Italy.
Department of Language and Linguistic Science, University of York, UK.
Infant Behav Dev. 2022 May;67:101709. doi: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2022.101709. Epub 2022 Mar 23.
Although the pattern of visual attention towards the region of the eyes is now well-established for infants at an early stage of development, less is known about the extent to which the mouth attracts an infant's attention. Even less is known about the extent to which these specific looking behaviours towards different regions of the talking face (i.e., the eyes or the mouth) may impact on or account for aspects of language development. The aim of the present systematic review is to synthesize and analyse (i) which factors might determine different looking patterns in infants during audio-visual tasks using dynamic faces and (ii) how these patterns have been studied in relation to aspects of the baby's development. Four bibliographic databases were explored, and the records were selected following specified inclusion criteria. The search led to the identification of 19 papers (October 2021). Some studies have tried to clarify the role played by audio-visual support in speech perception and early production based on directly related factors such as the age or language background of the participants, while others have tested the child's competence in terms of linguistic or social skills. Several hypotheses have been advanced to explain the selective attention phenomenon. The results of the selected studies have led to different lines of interpretation. Some suggestions for future research are outlined.
尽管对于处于早期发展阶段的婴儿，视觉注意力集中在眼睛区域的模式现在已经得到很好的证实，但对于嘴巴吸引婴儿注意力的程度知之甚少。更不知道这些针对说话人脸不同区域（即眼睛或嘴巴）的特定注视行为在多大程度上可能影响或解释语言发展的各个方面。本系统综述的目的是综合分析：（i）使用动态面部时，哪些因素可能决定婴儿在视听任务中的不同注视模式；（ii）这些模式在多大程度上与婴儿发育的各个方面相关进行了研究。共探索了四个文献数据库，并根据特定的纳入标准选择了记录。搜索结果确定了 19 篇论文（2021 年 10 月）。一些研究试图根据参与者的年龄或语言背景等直接相关因素，阐明视听支持在言语感知和早期产生中的作用，而另一些研究则根据语言或社交技能测试儿童的能力。已经提出了几个假设来解释选择性注意现象。选定研究的结果导致了不同的解释。概述了对未来研究的一些建议。
