Babies born into bilingual homes change the focus of their visual attention more frequently and more quickly than babies in monolingual homes, according to research in Royal Society Open Science. Researchers tracked the gaze of 102 infants ages 7 to 9 months (half of whom were from bilingual homes) while the babies looked at two side- by- side pictures. The researchers found that infants from bilingual homes shifted attention from one picture to the other more frequently than infants from monolingual homes, suggestion these babies were exploring more of their environment, possibly to obtain additional information. The study also found that when a new picture appeared, babies from bilingual homes were 33% faster at redirecting their attention toward it. (Monitor on Psychology)

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