06.10.2022
Eye Tracking in Developmental Psychology: Seeing How Minds Grow
by Mirta Mikac, Product Manager
From Infancy to Adolescence
The journey from infancy to adolescence is full of learning, growth, and remarkable cognitive change. But how can we peek inside a developing mind – especially when children can’t yet put their thoughts into words? Eye tracking has emerged as a powerful tool in developmental psychology, letting researchers see what children notice, how they process information, and how their skills evolve over time. In this blog post, we’ll explore how eye tracking illuminates attention and learning from infancy through adolescence, revealing insights about language development, problem-solving, reading, and social cognition.
Infants: How Eyes Reveal Early Learning
Infants might not be able to speak, but their eyes tell a powerful story. Eye tracking allows researchers to study the foundational stages of early language and social development.
- Preference Paradigms: By presenting infants with different stimuli (e.g., two faces, two sounds, or an object paired with a word), researchers can observe where their gaze lingers. If an infant consistently looks longer at a particular stimulus, it suggests a preference or recognition. This method has been crucial in understanding how infants differentiate sounds, recognize their parents’ faces, and even begin to associate words with objects. For instance, studies using eye tracking have shown how quickly infants learn to link a spoken word like “ball” to an image of a ball, even before they can utter their first words1, 2.
- Joint Attention: A critical precursor to language and social development is joint attention – the ability to share attention with another person on the same object or event3. If a parent points to a toy, does the infant follow their gaze to the toy, or do they remain focused on the parent’s finger? Eye trackers precisely measure these shifts in gaze, providing objective data on a child’s developing social engagement skills. Difficulties with joint attention can sometimes be an early indicator for developmental differences, making eye tracking a valuable diagnostic tool.
Children & Teens: Tracking Cognitive Growth
As children grow, eye tracking continues to offer profound insights into increasingly complex cognitive processes.
- Attention and Problem Solving: In toddlers and preschoolers, eye tracking shows how children allocate attention during play or problem-solving tasks. Where do they look first? How do they approach a problem? This helps researchers understand the development of executive functions and attentional control4,5.
- Reading Development6: For school-aged children, eye tracking offers a window into reading development. By tracking fixations and saccades, researchers and educators can:
- Identify atypical reading patterns, such as excessive regressions or unusually long fixations, which might indicate reading difficulties like dyslexia.
- Observe how reading strategies evolve with fluency.
- Evaluate the effectiveness of different reading interventions.
- Study how children process complex sentences or challenging vocabulary.
- Social Cognition in Adolescence7: Teenagers navigate increasingly complex social landscapes. Eye tracking can be used to study how they interpret social cues, read facial expressions, and process emotions. This helps in understanding the development of empathy, theory of mind, and even the impact of social anxieties.
Seeing the Whole Picture
From first glances of an infant to the nuanced social gaze of a teenager, eye tracking opens a window into the developing mind. By observing where children look, how long they focus, and what captures their attention, we gain invaluable insight into cognition, social skills, and learning – long before they can articulate their thoughts.
These insights not only advance developmental psychology but also inform educational strategies, early interventions, and the ways we support learning across childhood. The eyes truly are a window into development, revealing, guiding, and inspiring our understanding of how young minds grow.
EyeLogic in the field of developmental psychology
At EyeLogic, we support researchers, clinicians, and educators in uncovering these insights with precise, reliable eye tracking solutions designed for real-world developmental research. With extensive experience in eye tracking technology and its application across psychology, learning, and human behavior studies, EyeLogic provides both advanced products and expert guidance to help turn gaze data into meaningful understanding.
Do you need more help or have question? Contact us and we’d be happy to assist you!
1 Fernald, A., Perfors, A., & Marchman, V.A. (2011). Picking Up Speed in Understanding: Speech Processing Efficiency and Vocabulary Growth Across the 2nd Year. Dev Psychol., 1, 98-116.
2 Bergelson, E., & Aslin, R.N. (2017). Nature and origins of the lexicon in 6-mo-olds. PNAS, 114(49), 12916-12921.
3 Mundy, P., & Newell, L. (2007). Attention, Joint Attention, and Social Cognition. Curr Dir Psychol Sci., 16(5), 269-274.
4 Amso, D., & Scerif, G. (2015). The attentive brain: insights from developmental cognitive neuroscience. Nat Rev Neurosci, 16, 606-619.
5 Plebanek, D.J., & Sloutsky, V.M. (2017). Cost of Selective Attention: When Children Notice What Adults Miss. Psychol Sci, 28(6), 723-732.
6 Ceple, I., Krauze, L., Serpa, E., Sevde, A., Goliskina, V., Vasiljeva, S., Kassaliete, E., Ganebnaya, A., Volberga, L., Truksa, R., Ruza, T., & Krumina, G. (2025). Eye Movement Parameters in Children with Reading Difficulties. Appl. Sci., 15(2), 954.
7 Kilford, E.J., Garrett, E., & Blakemore, S.-J. (2016). The development of social cognition in adolescence: An integrated perspective. Neurosci Biobehav Rev., 70, 106-120.