NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - New research provides evidence to support the theory that babies use the direction of an adult's eyes to tell them what to look at.

Previous studies have investigated this question, but none had conclusively determined whether a baby who follows an adult's gaze is imitating the direction of the adult's turned head or their eyes, lead author Dr. Rechele Brooks of the University of Washington in Seattle told Reuters Health.

Now, in the current study, Brooks and co-author Dr. Andrew N. Meltzoff found that 12-month-old babies were more likely to look in the direction of an object if an adult looked at it with open eyes than if the adult's head was turned in that direction, but the eyes were closed. The babies who were at least 14 months old also heeded an object more if an adult was looking in the direction of the object and wearing a headband, rather than a blindfold.

These results indicate that babies rely on eyes, and not the head, to direct their attention, Brooks explained.

"Babies are looking at and following your eyes when you turn to look at something," Brooks noted. "They're actually monitoring that your eyes are open."

Brooks and Meltzoff obtained their findings from a series of experiments in which they sat across from an infant, with a table in between them, and two identical, colorful objects placed on either side of the baby. The investigators tried the experiment with 96 infants who were either 12, 14 or 18 months old. Each infant sat on a parent's lap.

During the experiments, the investigator first played with the infant and one of the toys. The investigator then made eye contact with the baby, then looked with either open or closed eyes in the direction of one of the toys.

In a second series of experiments, the investigator repeated the same experiment, but this time compared how long babies looked at the object when the investigator wore a blindfold or headband.

The researchers found that babies were more likely to look at the object when the investigators turned to the object with open eyes than when their eyes were closed or blocked by a blindfold. In addition, babies were more likely to point or babble while looking at the object if the adult across from them was looking at it with open eyes. Brooks and Meltzoff report their findings in the upcoming issue of Developmental Psychology.

In an interview with Reuters Health, Brooks explained that during the early months of life, babies can either play with a toy or an adult, and have trouble understanding how to join an adult and play with the same toy. Over time, however, she said she believes the babies expand their social skills and become able to connect the adult to the toy by what the adult is looking at. "I think (babies) are gradually just expanding what they know about eyes in a social way," Brooks explained.

She added that eyes are a smart thing to focus on, because they are often more specific about what to look at than the direction in which a head is turned. Eyes can also tell babies about what the adult is feeling while looking at the object.

This study did not address what happens to babies who don't learn to follow an adult's eyes, Brooks noted. However, the researcher speculated that parents with 12-month-old babies who are not connecting an adult's gaze to an object may want to exaggerate their attention, perhaps pointing to and reaching for an object to let babies know what to look at.

SOURCE: Developmental Psychology 2002;38 (in press).

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