Individual Differences in Infant Visual Attention: Links to Child Temperament, Behaviour and Genetic Variation

Individual differences in infants’ visual attention have been associated with individual variation in cognition in childhood. However, it has not been explored the degree to which individual variation in newborn and infant visual attention relates to individual differences in some forms of temperament and behaviour in childhood. Furthermore, little is known about the genetic causes of individual differences on newborn and infant visual attention. Chapter 1 will review studies on individual differences in infant visual attention. Chapter 2 will review all genetic studies on infant attention, temperament and behaviour. Chapter 3 will present results of a study that explored the degree to which individual differences in infant mean fixation duration (mean age = 7.69 months) are associated with some forms of temperament and behaviour in childhood (sample mean age = 41.59 months). It was found that infant mean fixation duration predicted positively child effortful control and negatively surgency and hyperactivity-inattention. Chapter 4 will present a study that explored whether individual differences in newborn average dwell time (mean age = 2.20 days) are associated with some forms of temperament and behaviour in childhood (mean age = 90.00 months). Newborn mean dwell time predicted negatively child surgency and behavioural difficulties. Chapters 5 will present analyses that explore the degree to which genome-wide variants previously found to increase the liability for ADHD and schizophrenia are associated with infant mean fixation duration and newborn average dwell time. Τhe findings suggest that individual differences in infant visual attention are linked to attentional and behavioural control in childhood. Results are presented on the genetic mechanisms underlying individual differences in infant attention. Chapter 6 will evaluate critically the findings and will present limitations of this work to inform future studies.