Selective looking by 12-month-olds to a temporally contingent partner

Twelve-month-old infants interacted with two strangers in a free-play context. In the Experimental condition (n = 17), one stranger (Contingent partner) vocally responded immediately to infants’ looks towards her, whereas the other (Non-contingent partner) was yoked to the Contingent partner with a 1-, 2-, or 3-s delay. In the Control condition (n = 17), the Non-Contingent partner emitted the first vocalization and other non-contingent vocalizations during the free play session. The Contingent partner acted the same as in the Experimental condition. When a novel event occurred after the free-play session, infants looked significantly more to the Contingent partner regardless of condition. The study highlights infants’ selective looking to temporally contingent partners in novel situations.