Abstract
The present study investigated mothers' joint attention strategies (follow/redirect), attention-directing behavior (point/show/demonstrate/give), and infant responses to mothers' redirect strategy. 20-month-old infants and their mothers were observed playing with toys. Mothers followed their infants' focus of attention more often than redirecting it, as a joint attention strategy. Mothers labeled and told their babies about the toys they were playing with, and often redirected the infants' attention with directive statements. "Showing" was more common as a redirect strategy and about half of mothers' redirect strategies were rejected or ignored by the infants. Among the attention-directing behavior in the redirect strategy, infant responded more to pointing and giving. Finally, joint attention continued longer if initiated by mothers rather than by infants.
