Neural bases of sustained attention during naturalistic parent-infant interactions

Serino, Giulia; Dopierala, Aleksandra A. W.; Shen, Catalina; Mareschal, Denis; Scerif, Gaia; Kirkham, Natasha; Emberson, Lauren L. · 2025 · Crossref

DOI: 10.1038/s41598-025-22534-w

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Summary

This study addresses the gap in understanding the neural mechanisms of sustained attention in infants within naturalistic settings. While sustained attention is critical for cognitive development, existing research relies heavily on controlled laboratory experiments that lack ecological validity and fail to capture the dynamic, real-world nature of infant attention. The authors aimed to develop and validate a functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) protocol to measure localized hemodynamic changes during naturalistic parent-infant interactions, specifically focusing on visual sustained attention. The researchers recorded fNIRS data from infants during unstructured play sessions with their caregivers. Sustained attention episodes were identified through video coding, defined as looking at a target (primarily toys) for more than eight seconds. To address the challenge of defining a baseline in continuous attention states, the study leveraged temporal dynamics established in electrocardiography (ECG) literature. The protocol aligned fNIRS analysis blocks to start three seconds after the onset of looking behavior, using the preceding three seconds (orienting phase) as an active baseline. This approach accounts for the hemodynamic response delay and the transition from orienting to sustained attention. Data were pre-processed to remove motion artifacts, and analyses focused on three bilateral regions of interest: the medial frontal gyrus, superior temporal sulcus, and temporo-parietal junction. The results indicated significant increases in oxygenated hemoglobin (HbO) in the left superior temporal sulcus and left temporo-parietal junction during sustained attention episodes. Cluster-based permutation analysis confirmed a significant cluster of activation in the left temporoparietal area. Protocol validation demonstrated that shifting the analysis window to align with the initial onset of looking (+0 seconds) yielded no significant results, while delaying the start further (+6 seconds) introduced noise due to variability in attention duration. The +3-second offset proved optimal, capturing the peak hemodynamic response consistent with the sustained attention phase. Randomization of attention windows produced no significant activity, confirming the specificity of the findings. These findings provide the first evidence of left temporo-parietal involvement in sustained attention during naturalistic infant interactions. The study successfully validates a novel fNIRS protocol that uses distinct attentional states as baselines, overcoming the difficulty of isolating attention-related brain activity in unstructured environments. This approach offers a robust method for future research into the neural substrates of attention in developmental populations, bridging the gap between controlled laboratory studies and real-world cognitive processes.

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• neuro workload indices