Social modulation of attention in young children between 2 and 3 years

In non-social situations, adults are fascinated by other people and preferentially process social information (Dunbar, 1998, 2003). However, once they find themselves in a social situation (e.g. in a waiting room), people would avoid directly looking at strangers‘ faces (Foulsham, Walker, & Kingstone, 2011; Laidlaw, Foulsham, Kuhn, & Kingstone, 2011). This phenomenon of social inhibition of gaze has been demonstrated in adults, infants and children between 3 and 5. The current study aims to replicate the findings in 3-year-old children and additionally test them in 2 year old children.