Task-related gaze behavior and affective dynamics in parent-child interactions: A wearable eye-tracking pilot study in the home-environment

Parent-child interactions are crucial for children's sociocognitive development, such as social skills and emotion-regulation. In this pilot study, we used wearable eye-tracking in combination with behavioral observation methods to examine the role of gaze behavior and affective dynamics during parent-child interactions in the home environment. 10 parent-child dyads engaged in semi-structured play and conversational tasks. We found that both parents and children directed more gaze toward each other’s faces during conversations compared to play-building tasks. Overall, parents’ and children’s affect scores reflected high positive and low negative emotions, which were to some extent task-dependent. However, no clear link was found between gaze behavior to faces and affect scores. While this pilot study provided useful insights into the feasibility of combining eye-tracking with behavioral observations in the home environment, we also encountered several challenges, such as limitations of the equipment and the limited ability of the chosen tasks to elicit emotions. We are currently working on developing more emotionally engaging tasks, as well as adding other ecological assessment methods to capture affective dynamics of parent-child communication.