Infant’s gaze in a teasing task with an experimenter or parent: A naturalistic approach
Corresponding Author
Dolors Girbau
University Jaume I, Castelló, Spain
Dolors Girbau, Department of Basic, Clinical & Biological Psychology, Universitat Jaume I, Av. Sos Baynat s/n, 12071 Castelló, Spain and Tricia Skoler, Hunter College City University of New York, 695 Park Ave, New York, NY 10017, USA. E-mails: [email protected]; [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Tricia Skoler
City University of New York, Hunter College, New York City, NY, USA
Dolors Girbau, Department of Basic, Clinical & Biological Psychology, Universitat Jaume I, Av. Sos Baynat s/n, 12071 Castelló, Spain and Tricia Skoler, Hunter College City University of New York, 695 Park Ave, New York, NY 10017, USA. E-mails: [email protected]; [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Dolors Girbau
University Jaume I, Castelló, Spain
Dolors Girbau, Department of Basic, Clinical & Biological Psychology, Universitat Jaume I, Av. Sos Baynat s/n, 12071 Castelló, Spain and Tricia Skoler, Hunter College City University of New York, 695 Park Ave, New York, NY 10017, USA. E-mails: [email protected]; [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Tricia Skoler
City University of New York, Hunter College, New York City, NY, USA
Dolors Girbau, Department of Basic, Clinical & Biological Psychology, Universitat Jaume I, Av. Sos Baynat s/n, 12071 Castelló, Spain and Tricia Skoler, Hunter College City University of New York, 695 Park Ave, New York, NY 10017, USA. E-mails: [email protected]; [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
We assessed infant’s gaze in a teasing task in New York City public spaces. The task was administered to two different groups of 5- to 13-month-old infants. We used a between participants design across two studies. In Study 1 an experimenter administered the task to these infants (n = 79), whereas a parent did so in Study 2 (n = 79). The adult engaged the infant with a toy and then pulled it away to one side by counting to 7. A second trial to the other side was repeated. Infants passed the teasing task if they looked to the adult’s face within the first 5 seconds after removing the toy in at least one trial. In Study 1, we found that infants looked to the experimenter’s face after teasing by 7 months of age. In Study 2, infants did not show any significant gazes to the parent’s face after teasing at any age. Most trained parents successfully administered the teasing task to their infant. A teasing game played by an adult stranger (e.g., experimenter) may be optimal to elicit infant’s gaze in a naturalistic setting. Implications for developing cost-effective social-cognitive milestone measures in non-laboratory settings are discussed.
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