The impact of attention to social information on the development of socialization in childhood.

Background: Socialization and communication are complex processes. It is important to identify the factors related to their development. Objectives: This study aimed to determine how attention to social information affects the development of socialization and communication in children with typical development. Methods: We recruited 24 typically developing preschool children. Using the all-in-one eye-tracking system, Gazefinder, we measured the percentage fixation time allocated to social information depicted in movies with human faces, people, and geometry in preference paradigm movies showing these stimuli simultaneously, as well as others at Waves 1 (4.01±0.84 years), 2 (5.22±0.66 years), and 3 (6.57±0.63 years). We also used the Second Edition of the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales to measure socialization and communication in Waves 1-3. We then used a 3-wave cross-lagged effects model in a structural equation modeling framework to determine the impact of attention to social information on the development of socialization and communication. Results: Only the preference paradigm, movies simultaneously presenting people and geometric shapes, fulfilled the model fit criteria. The percentage of fixation times on the people region in Wave 1 affected the socialization score in Wave 2. Conclusions: Although the limitation of "the sample size is small" should be considered, the degree of interest in people has a strong positive influence on the development of socialization during early childhood. Attention to social information other than the preference paradigm may have been influenced by a relatively large number of factors and/or by the lesser degree of effects of the factors that strongly influenced the preference paradigm and did not fit the model criteria proposed in this study.