# Intersensory Processing, Developmental Trajectories, and Longitudinal Outcomes

> **NIH NIH R01** · FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $630,525

## Abstract

Project Summary
 Attention is the gateway to all we perceive, learn, and remember, and disorders of attention are a national
public health concern. Although we live in a world of overlapping, dynamic, multimodal events, little is known
about the development of attention amidst this complexity. Infants must learn to selectively attend to unitary
multimodal events (intersensory processing, IP) by detecting synchronous sights and sounds (e.g., face and
voice of a speaker), and to flexibly shift and maintain attention in the context of competing stimulation. These
basic “multisensory attention skills” (MASks) provide a cornerstone for language, socio-emotional (SE), and
cognitive development. However, there is no systematic database depicting the typical development of these
foundational MASks or the developmental pathways leading to optimal outcomes. A key obstacle to progress
has been the lack of individual difference measures appropriate for infants and children. To address this gap,
we created the first such protocols. Our measures index IP, attention maintenance, and shifting in the context
of overlapping audiovisual social and nonsocial events at a grain of analysis needed for characterizing skills of
individual children, developmental change, and risk for atypical development. In our current RO1, we assessed
longitudinal growth in MASks (across 3-72 mos; N=133). Our findings have modeled developmental pathways
demonstrating that infant MASks cascade to an impressive range of critical child outcomes including language,
school readiness, SE, and executive functioning. In the current proposal, we build on these novel findings: a)
We extend our longitudinal testing through preadolescence (PreAd; 9, 10, 11 yrs; N=178), a particularly
vulnerable period for SE development. b) We assess a new outcome domain, academic achievement, and
broaden assessment of the SE domain given their importance for successful functioning in PreAd. c) We add a
new predictor domain, family context (SES, maternal SE functioning, maternal sensitivity) known to predict
child outcomes but never before linked to MASks. Using cutting-edge SEM-based growth curve and panel
modeling, we will model how infant MASks develop and cascade to these important domains in childhood and
PreAd. The specific aims are to characterize the typical longitudinal growth of MASks and define values
signifying risk for delays (Aim 1), characterize pathways from infant MASks to all outcome domains (Aim 2),
and assess the role of family context in shaping MASks and pathways to outcomes (Aim 3). With the larger
sample at 9-11 yrs, we can test hypothesized and alternative models of developmental pathways in greater
detail. Findings will be shared via Databrary and promise to advance theory, methodology, and knowledge by
providing the first tools, data, and knowledgebase of developmental processes through which basic MASks
influence a host of later outcomes. This has potential to catalyze a shift in the stu...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10803324
- **Project number:** 2R01HD053776-16
- **Recipient organization:** FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Lorraine E Bahrick
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $630,525
- **Award type:** 2
- **Project period:** 2008-04-10 → 2029-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10803324

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10803324, Intersensory Processing, Developmental Trajectories, and Longitudinal Outcomes (2R01HD053776-16). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10803324. Licensed CC0.

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