An Exploration of Parent-Child Joint Attention During a Problem-Solving Task: A Novel Eye Tracking Method

Abstract

Parents play a critical role in helping their young children navigate challenging or novel problems (Ladd & Petit, 2002). Studies show that joint attention (JA) is a key predictor of successful collaboration, which contributes to successful problem solving and learning (Barron, 2003). JA occurs when two individuals coordinate their focus to mutually share attention towards a common event or object (Bradley et al., 2023). Most studies examine JA between infants or toddlers and a parent without considering other aspects of the interaction (e.g., Ambrose et al., 2020; Guo & Feng, 2013). Consequently, there is limited work on how JA relates to parenting behaviours in naturalistic learning contexts. This thesis examines whether the proportion and type (child-led or parent-led) of JA differ depending on the parents’ motivational state and whether parental behaviours are associated with JA. I examined eye tracking data from a subset of participants in a larger study (N=29 dyads; child ages 4.00 - 5.83 years) in which parents’ and children’s eye movements were recorded while children completed three challenging tangram puzzles (modeled after Lunkenheimer et al., 2017). The dyads were randomly assigned to one of two study conditions used to manipulate the parents’ motivational states: process-oriented or outcome-oriented. JA frequency and type (child vs. parent led) were coded for predefined regions of interest (e.g., the puzzle boards, parent hand, etc.). Proportion and type of JA was unrelated to motivational state; however, regardless of condition children primarily drove JA during this task. By exploring the dyadic association between parents and their children in a naturalistic task, research like this can inform parents and early childhood educators about how to best support children’s problem solving.