Infants Fixation Duration Links to Temperament in Childhood

Childhood This revised manuscript has 4,280 words. The introduction, discussion and acknowledgements sections have 1,907 words (we are using the 2014 regulations regarding the word limit that state that the limit for Introduction, Discussion and Acknowledgements sections is 2,000 words and there is no word limit for Method and Results sections), 3 tables and 1 figure. The Supplementary material includes three Abstract Individual differences in fixation duration are considered a reliable measure of attentional control in adults. The degree to which individual differences in fixation duration in infancy (0-12 months) relate to temperament and behavior in childhood is largely unknown. One hundred and twenty infants (mean age in months = 7.69, SD = 1.90) participated in an eye-tracking study. Parents completed age appropriate questionnaires about their child's temperament and behavior at follow up (mean age of children = 41.59, SD = 9.83). Mean fixation duration in infancy was positively associated with effortful control (β = .20, R 2 = .02, p = .04) and negatively with surgency (β =-.37, R 2 = .07, p = .003) and hyperactivity-inattention (β =-.35, R 2 = .06, p = .005) in childhood. These findings suggest that individual differences in mean fixation duration in infancy are linked to attentional and behavioral control in childhood.