title: Look into my eyes: Investigating joint attention using interactive eye-tracking and fMRI in a developmental sample.
abstract: Joint attention, the shared attentional focus of at least two people on a third significant object, is one of the earliest steps in social development and an essential aspect of reciprocal interaction. However, the neural basis of joint attention (JA) in the course of development is completely unknown. The present study made use of an interactive eye-tracking paradigm in order to examine the developmental trajectories of JA and the influence of a familiar interaction partner during the social encounter. Our results show that across children and adolescents JA elicits a similar network of "social brain" areas as well as attention and motor control associated areas as in adults. While other-initiated JA particularly recruited visual, attention and social processing areas, self-initiated JA specifically activated areas related to social cognition, decision-making, emotions and motivational/reward processes highlighting the rewarding character of self-initiated JA. Activation was further enhanced during self-initiated JA with a familiar interaction partner. With respect to developmental effects, activation of the precuneus declined from childhood to adolescence and additionally shifted from a general involvement in JA towards a more specific involvement for self-initiated JA. Similarly, the temporoparietal junction (TPJ) was broadly involved in JA in children and more specialized for self-initiated JA in adolescents. Taken together, this study provides first-time data on the developmental trajectories of JA and the effect of a familiar interaction partner incorporating the interactive character of JA, its reciprocity and motivational aspects.
authors.affiliation: Child Neuropsychology Section, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics, and Psychotherapy, University Hospital RWTH Aachen, Germany; Translational Brain Research in Psychiatry and Neurology, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics, and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Aachen, Germany; Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-3), Jülich Research Center, Germany. Electronic address: eoberwelland@ukaachen.de.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Oberwelland
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital Cologne, Germany; Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Schilbach
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital Cologne, Germany; Department of Humanities, Social and Political Science, ETH Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Barisic
authors.affiliation: Child Neuropsychology Section, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics, and Psychotherapy, University Hospital RWTH Aachen, Germany; Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-3), Jülich Research Center, Germany.
authors.forename: S C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Krall
authors.affiliation: Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-3), Jülich Research Center, Germany; Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital Cologne, Germany.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Vogeley
authors.affiliation: Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-3), Jülich Research Center, Germany; Department of Neurology, University Hospital Cologne, Germany.
authors.forename: G R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Fink
authors.affiliation: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics, and Psychotherapy, University Hospital RWTH Aachen, Germany.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Herpertz-Dahlmann
authors.affiliation: Child Neuropsychology Section, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics, and Psychotherapy, University Hospital RWTH Aachen, Germany; Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-3), Jülich Research Center, Germany.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Konrad
authors.affiliation: Child Neuropsychology Section, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics, and Psychotherapy, University Hospital RWTH Aachen, Germany; Translational Brain Research in Psychiatry and Neurology, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics, and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Aachen, Germany; Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-3), Jülich Research Center, Germany.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schulte-Rüther
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods*; D002648:Child; D005133:Eye Movements; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D012201:Reward; D012919:Social Behavior
keywords: Development; Familiarity; Joint attention; Social interaction; Temporoparietal junction