# Early Predictors of Infant-Parent Coordinated Attention and Word Learning in Preterm and Full-Term Infants

> **NIH NIH R21** · UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA AT COLUMBIA · 2024 · $214,925

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
 Preterm birth (PT, <37 weeks of gestation) is a significant public health concern due to the increased survival
rates combined with elevated risks of developing neurocognitive impairments among survivors. Extensive
research indicates that, relative to full-term infants (FTs), PT infants (PTs) exhibit deficits in basic visual attention
functions and motor skills emerging from the first year of life, accompanied by language delays in the first two
years. While attention and motor abilities serve a foundational role in language acquisition, there is limited
understanding of the mechanistic pathway from PT birth to language learning performance. Infant-parent
coordinated visual attention (CVA) that reflects infants’ ability to coordinate attention to an object with a caregiver
provides critical moments for language learning. Emerging research studying CVA in free-flowing FT-parent
interactions highlights that bouts of CVA arise from attention-motor coordination within individuals and between
infant-parent dyads. CVA bouts enhance FTs’ sustained attention to the toys and coincide with parents’ naming
of the toys. The multisensory experience facilitates real-time word learning and predicts better language
outcomes. However, to our knowledge, no studies have examined how PT birth may impact the formation of
CVA and real-time word learning. There is also limited knowledge of the developmental cascading effects of
attention and motor deficits on CVA in PTs. To address these gaps, The present proposal aims to 1) examine
the impact of very PT birth (<32 weeks of gestation) on CVA and real-time word learning performance, and 2)
assess the longitudinal effects of infant and attention functions and motor abilities on CVA. In this longitudinal
study, comprehensive assessments of infant attention and motor abilities will be carried out at 12 months of age.
Attention subfunctions will be examined using three screen-based eye-tracking marker tasks. This age is marked
by the emergence of individual differences in endogenous attention control (i.e., executive attention). Gross
motor and fine motor skills will be assessed using a laboratory paradigm and a standardized assessment. At 18
months, we will incorporate mobile eye tracking in an infant-parent free-play paradigm to study the formation and
impacts of CVA from the first-person perspective. The infant-parent dyads will play with six novel toys with
pseudoword names. Real-time comprehension of the toy names will be examined immediately after the free play
using an eye tracking Looking-While-Listening task, a well-established paradigm that has been used to measure
word comprehension in 18-month-olds. Our innovation is marked by 1) uncovering mechanisms contributing to
PT-induced individual differences in language learning experiences, and 2) implementing a multi-timescale
investigation to study child-centered factors (i.e., attention and motor) that shape inputs for language learning in
real time...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10987166
- **Project number:** 1R21HD113861-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA AT COLUMBIA
- **Principal Investigator:** Xiaoxue Fu
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $214,925
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-08-07 → 2026-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10987166

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10987166, Early Predictors of Infant-Parent Coordinated Attention and Word Learning in Preterm and Full-Term Infants (1R21HD113861-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-12 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10987166. Licensed CC0.

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