The role that eye contact plays in early development

Eye Contact is one of the most rudimentary modes of communication (Mirenda, Donnellan & Yoder, 1983). It is sometimes referred to as eye gaze or eye to face gaze. It serves as an important social function for young children even before vocal responding begins to develop (Stern, 1985). 

In early development, eye contact serves to regulate face-to-face social interaction and contributes to the way that we communicate in social interactions ( Tiegerman & Primavera, 1984). The lack of eye contact in early development could potentially hamper a wide range of social learning. Therefore it is important for carers to promote eye contact at an early stage.

Throughout development, eye contact coordinates with other behaviours to communicate increasingly complex meanings. Infants learn to look where another person is looking because that is where interesting stimuli are (Triesch et al., 2006). There are different types of eye contact and they all contribute to the way children develop.

Dyadic eye gaze is when one individual looks at the other person and triadic eye gaze is when both of you are looking at a shared object or third party. Both of these eye gazes are fundamental to communication. A deficit in these areas may be early indicators to ASD and/or developmental delay (Baron-Cohen, Allen & Gillberg, 1992; Wimpory, Hobson, Williams & Nash, 2000; Woods & Wetherby, 2003).


Greer and Ross (2007) and Lovaas (1977) found that poor eye contact may adversely affect the educational gains of children due to the relationship between eye contact and attending to the teacher and instructional demands. This is because eye contact occurs very early in development and serves many functions for the young child to communicate with their carers, their teachers, their peers and their surroundings. It has also been implicated in the development of social, cognitive and language skills. Therefore, it is important for carers to promote eye contact at an early age.

GET in touch

 References

  Baron-Cohen, S., Allen, J., & Gillberg, C. (1992). Can autism be detected at 18 months? The needle, the haystack, and the CHAT. British Journal of Psychiatry, 161(6), 839–843. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.161.6.839
 
  Greer, R. D., & Ross, D. E. (2008). Verbal behavior analysis : inducing and expanding new verbal capabilities in children with language delays . Pearson/Allyn & Bacon.
 
  Lovaas, O. I. (1977). The autistic child: language development through behavior modification. Irvington Publishers : distributed by Halsted Press.
 
  Mirenda, P. L., Donnellan, A. M., & Yoder, D. E. (1983). Gaze behavior: A new look at an old problem. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 13(4), 397–409. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01531588
 
  Stern, D. N. (1985). The Interpersonal World of the Infant: A View from Psychoanalysis and Developmental Psychology (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429482137
 
   Tiegerman, E., & Primavera, L. H. (1984). Imitating the autistic child: Facilitating communicative gaze behavior. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 14(1), 27–38. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02408553
 
  Triesch, J., Teuscher, C., Deák, G. O., & Carlson, E. (2006). Gaze following: why (not) learn it? Developmental Science, 9(2), 125–147. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7687.2006.00470.x
 
   Wetherby, A. M., & Woods, J. J. (2006). Early Social Interaction Project for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders Beginning in the Second Year of Life: A Preliminary Study. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 26(2), 67–82. https://doi.org/10.1177/02711214060260020201
 
   Wimpory, D. C., Hobson, R. P., Williams, J. M. G., & Nash, S. (2000). Are Infants with Autism Socially Engaged? A Study of Recent Retrospective Parental Reports. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 30(6), 525–536. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:100568320943