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Multimodal Dynamics of Infant Attention: Eye, Brain, and Heart During Object Play

Award Number: R01HD121864
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CHILD HEALTH AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 06/01/2026
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 03/31/2031

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Multimodal Dynamics of Infant Attention: Eye, Brain, and Heart During Object Play - Project Summary Sustained attention (SA)—the ability to maintain engagement with people or objects over time—is a foundational skill that supports early learning across domains, including language, cognitive development, and social interaction. Disruptions in early SA have been linked to later difficulties in academic achievement, emotion regulation, and mental health. Yet, little is known about how SA naturally emerges, stabilizes, and becomes self-directed in infancy, particularly in everyday social contexts. This project investigates how SA develops through dynamic coordination among behavioral, neural, and autonomic systems, captured in real time during naturalistic parent–infant interactions. We will conduct a longitudinal study of typically developing infants between 6 and 30 months, integrating head-mounted eye tracking (ET), electroencephalography (EEG), and heart rate monitoring (ECG). This multimodal design enables precise identification of SA episodes and their physiological signatures as they unfold in the real world. We hypothesize that caregiver scaffolding—such as holding—shapes the salience and structure of infants’ attention, triggering coordinated multisystem engagement that supports the emergence of self-directed SA. We will characterize age-related changes in SA, examine its variation across social contexts, and assess whether early multisystem patterns predict later individual differences in attention control, language development, and neural function. This project is innovative in its longitudinal, ecologically grounded approach to studying attention, combining first-person ET with neural and autonomic measures during live interaction. Findings will advance theories of developmental attention and clarify how early multisystem dynamics contribute to variation in cognitive and social outcomes.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2026 ( Subtotal = $332,140 )
2026	2026	UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON SYSTEM	4300 MARTIN LUTHER KING BLVD	HOUSTON	TX	77204	HARRIS	USA	Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research	000	1	5/25/2026	NEW	$332,140
														Subtotal = $332,140

Grand Total All Awards = $332,140

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Multimodal Dynamics of Infant Attention: Eye, Brain, and Heart During Object Play

Award Number: R01HD121864

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CHILD HEALTH AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 06/01/2026

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 03/31/2031

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