Joint Attention in Humans and Animals J 1663 attention is not always used in the literature, but as Jigsaw Method we will see below, it is important to keep in mind when A cooperative learning technique developed by Aronson comparing the joint attention skills of humans and (1978) in which students work in small groups, where animals. each group member is assigned to become an “expert” on some aspect of a unit of study. After reading about Theoretical Background their area of expertise, the experts from different In humans, joint attention plays an extremely impor- groups meet to discuss their topic, and then return to tant role in many social activities, including communi- their groups and take turns teaching their topics to cation, cooperation, and education. For example, there their group mates. is much research showing that infants and toddlers learn novel words more easily when the words are References presented to them inside, as opposed to outside of, a joint attentional focus. Joint attention supports learn- Aronson, E. (1978). The jigsaw classroom. Beverly Hills: Sage. ing (and other cooperative activities) by providing a “meeting of minds” or shared base of understanding on which to build. The clearest signs of joint attention behaviors emerge developmentally in human infants Joint Attention in Humans and around 9–12 months of age. J Animals Nonhuman animals are often credited with the ability to engage in joint attention as well. For example, MALINDA CARPENTER a wide variety of animals (e.g., monkeys, apes, dogs, Department of Developmental and Comparative dolphins, birds, and goats) can follow others’ gaze Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary direction to end up looking at the same thing, and Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany thus many researchers have claimed that they engage in joint attention. However, while gaze following some- times results in joint attention, it does not always do so. Synonyms For example, I can follow your gaze without you even Coordinated joint engagement; Declarative pointing; being aware that I am present, much less looking at the Declarative showing; Joint visual attention; Referential same thing. What is needed for joint attention in this looking; Triadic looking case is some indication that attention is shared. If each individual alternates gaze between the object and the Definition other individual, resulting in eye contact, this is often Joint attention is typically defined as two individuals taken as an indication of joint attention, both in gaze coordinating visual attention to an object of mutual following situations and on its own, for example, when interest. Some of the specifics of this definition are an infant looks back and forth between his mother’s not important: for example, more than two individuals face and a toy they are playing with. However, gaze can be involved, it can be any type of attention (e.g., alternation is also not necessarily evidence of joint visual or auditory), and the attention need not be to an attention, as there are many reasons why one might object – it can be to an event, a location, an idea, or alternate gaze between an object and a social partner, anything else. The most crucial part of the definition is for example, to see what the social partner is going the “coordinating” part – the part that makes joint to do with the object, or simply because both the attention joint, rather than just parallel attention. object and the partner are interesting or salient. Joint attention means more than just two individuals Gaze following and gaze alternation thus might attending to the same thing; in addition, both individ- involve parallel or alternating attention, rather than uals need to know together with each other that they coordinated, shared, joint attention. Perhaps the most are attending to the same thing (see Tomasello 1995). convincing evidence of joint attention is declarative They need to be aware (in some sense) that they gestures: communicative gestures such as showing are sharing attention. This strict definition of joint and pointing that are performed with the goal of 1664 J Joint Attention in Humans and Animals attracting someone else’s attention to an object so that do not require attention truly to be shared that attention and attitudes about it can be shared. (Leavens and Racine 2009). However, lower-level, more egocentric explanations of One obvious and important question for future these gestures are also possible, so research is needed research is to see whether evidence of truly joint joint to determine just how joint the joint attention of attention can be found in animals. The same question infants and animals really is. also applies to human infants younger than 9 to 12 months of age, who can follow gaze and who some- Important Scientific Research and times show gaze alternation between objects and social Open Questions partners. Finally, it will be interesting to look for rela- This type of research has already been conducted with tions between joint attention and other theoretically human infants. For example, after 1-year-old infants related behaviors such as cooperation and some of the follow others’ gaze, they often look back to their partner more social types of imitation (see Hobson and with a smile, and/or point to the object themselves, to Hobson 2007), which all involve sharing or aligning share attention to it with their partner. When they alter- attitudes, goals, or behavior with others, and which are nate gaze with adults while playing with toys, they often also thought by many to be uniquely human skills. produce “sharing looks” expressing their attitude about the toy to the adult (see Hobson and Hobson 2007 for Cross-References more on sharing versus other types of looks). The expres- ▶ Animal Culture sive, communicative quality of these looks to the adult ▶ Bruner, Jerome S. (1915–) indicates that infants are doing more than just unilater- ▶ Cognitive Aspects of Natural Communication in ally checking or monitoring the adult’s focus of atten- Primates tion or looking to see what she is going to do next. Direct ▶ Imitative Learning in Humans and Animals tests of possible alternative explanations of 12-month- ▶ Intelligent Communication in Animals olds’ declarative pointing also show that infants point in ▶ Language Acquisition and Development order to share attention and interest with their partner ▶ Similarities and Differences about Ape and Human about the object, rather than for lower-level, more ego- Cognition: The Cultural Intelligence Hypothesis centric reasons (Liszkowski et al. 2004). Finally, and ▶ Social Cognition in Animals more generally, studies show that 1-year-old infants ▶ Theory of Mind in Animals keep track of what experiences they have shared with whom (Moll et al. 2008). Together these studies suggest References that, at least by around 1 year of age, human infants Hobson, J. A., & Hobson, R. P. (2007). Identification: The missing engage in joint attention that is truly joint. link between joint attention and imitation? Development and This type of evidence is not so easy to find for other Psychopathology, 19, 411–431. animals, despite in-depth research on relevant behav- Leavens, D. A., & Racine, T. P. (2009). Joint attention in apes and humans: Are humans unique? Journal of Consciousness Studies, iors like gaze following and communicative gestures. 16, 240–267. By far, the most such research has been done with Liszkowski, U., Carpenter, M., Henning, A., Striano, T., & Tomasello, chimpanzees, our closest nonhuman primate relatives. M. (2004). Twelve-month-olds point to share attention and Chimpanzees have a quite sophisticated understanding interest. Developmental Science, 7, 297–307. of others’ attention (in the sense of what others can Moll, H., Richter, N., Carpenter, M., & Tomasello, M. (2008). Fourteen-month-olds know what ‘we’ have shared in a special see or have seen in the immediate past). They are also way. Infancy, 13, 90–101. motivated to follow others’ gaze, and they routinely Tomasello, M. (1995). Joint attention as social cognition. In C. Moore gesture themselves to direct others’ attention to objects. & P. J. Dunham (Eds.), Joint attention: Its origins and role in However, there is little (if any) evidence that they do development (pp. 103–130). Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum. these things for the sole purpose of sharing attention Tomonaga, M., Tanaka, M., Matsuzawa, T., Myowa-Yamakoshi, M., about objects with others, as an end in itself, like Kosugi, D., Mizuno, Y., Okamoto, S., Yamaguchi, M. K., & Bard, K. A. (2004). Development of social cognition in infant humans do (Tomonaga et al. 2004). Researchers who chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes): Face recognition, smiling, gaze, credit chimpanzees and other animals with joint atten- and the lack of triadic interactions. Japanese Psychological tion invariably use weaker definitions of joint attention Research, 46, 227–235..