A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Early Emerging Gradients in Children's Eye Movement Times Across Levels of Household Resources
Authors: Leppänen, Jukka M.; Pyykkö, Juha; Evans, Denise; Coetzee, Lezanie; Fink, Günther; Yousafzai, Aisha K.; Hamer, David H.; Parkerson, Doug; Rockers, Peter C.
Publisher: WILEY
Publishing place: HOBOKEN
Publication year: 2025
Journal: Developmental Science
Journal name in source: DEVELOPMENTAL SCIENCE
Journal acronym: DEVELOPMENTAL SCI
Article number: e70058
Volume: 28
Issue: 5
Number of pages: 13
ISSN: 1363-755X
eISSN: 1467-7687
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.70058
Web address : https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.70058
Self-archived copy’s web address: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/499831786
Studies in low-resource settings suggest that multiple aspects of early childhood development are sensitive to the relative poverty of a child's environment. We examined whether direct, quantitative measures of early developing cognitive functions show a similar association with relative poverty. Eye movement latencies were recorded in children at 7, 17, and 36 months in rural South Africa (N = 374). The latency to respond to the appearance of visual objects was inversely associated with a proxy measure of the child's socioeconomic environment (household asset ownership), with longer latencies observed in children from households with less asset-based resources. This gradient was detectable at 7 months, increased between 7 and 36 months, was not explained by differences in prior exposure to screens, and generalized to the latency of eye movements towards socially cued objects (i.e., pointing gestures that directed the child's attention to a specific object). Physical growth (height-for-age) and developmental milestone scores were lower in children from households with less resources. The results were replicated in an analysis of independent data from 31-month-old children collected in Zambia (N = 270). The results provide novel evidence for early emerging gradients in behaviors that are universal and mechanistically involved in learning and skill formation.Summary Eye tracking was used to assess whether the early development of elementary visual behaviors is associated with the relative poverty of the environment in low-resource settings. Eye movement latencies to the onset of visual stimuli were longer in children from relatively poorer environments, with suggestive evidence for a steepening of this gradient over early childhood. A similar gradient across poverty levels was seen in eye movement latencies to dynamic social spatial cues (gaze and hand gestures) This study provides novel, quantitative evidence for very early-emerging gradients in behaviors that are essential for adaptive functioning and learning across all environments.
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Funding information in the publication:
The study in South Africa was funded by the South African Medical Research Council (www.samrc.ac.za) through a grant to the Health Economics and Epidemiology Research Office at the University of the Witwatersrand (DE). The study in Zambia was funded by Sint Antonius Stichting, Osk. Huttunen Foundation, the Foundation for Pediatric Research in Finland, and the Finnish Cultural Foundation (JP). Data analyses have been partially funded and the Academy of Finland (Grant number 339474). The authors thank project data collectors, field workers, and participating families for their help in implementing the project. Artificial intelligence was used in language and code editing OpenAI (2024).
