<p>To solicit the attention or determine the intentions of another, we use our eyes. While many animals appear to use eyes as an important behavioral cue, for humans, these cues are especially critical. The power of the eyes to attract and direct attention shapes human behavior from an early age and likely serves as a foundation for social skill acquisition, ranging from simple, friendly eye contact to complex, spoken language, even to our almost mystical ability to empathize and "see the world through another's eyes". Humans have transformed our environment through our economic alliances and military competitions, and our individual successes and failures depend critically on social skills built on a foundation of shared attention. When these abilities break down, as in autism, pervasive social awkwardness can challenge the close relationship of individuals with their friends, family, and community. Nonetheless, we know almost nothing about the brain mechanisms that have evolved to process social cues and convert them into a rich experience of shared attention. To investigate this process, we explored the ability of human and nonhuman primates to follow the attention of other individuals. First, we characterized natural gaze-following behavior using a novel telemetric device in socially-interacting prosimian primates, and later in monkeys and humans responding to gaze cues in the lab. Finally, we examined the neuronal responses to gaze cues in a macaque posterior parietal area implicated in attention control--the lateral intraparietal area, LIP. Our findings suggest that gaze-following abilities may be widespread in social primates, relying on conserved, homologous brain pathways; and that they may not be informationally-encapsulated reflexes, but rather are densely interwoven with diverse social processes. Indeed, we found gaze cues influenced neurons in LIP, part of the dorsal frontoparietal attention network. Finally, we report that "mirror" neurons in parietal areas may thus play a role not only in representing perceived bodily actions, but also perceived mental states such as observed attention.</p> / Dissertation

Here is presented a study on the shared care of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. The focus on the sharing of attention reflected the alignment of this research with assumptions of historical social approach. The motivation for a historical and social approach to attention of children with this diagnosis reflected the predominance of information that have only prioritized neurological aspects of autism spectrum disorders. The main objective of this research was to investigate the share of the attention of two children during activities in occupational therapy sessions. The construction of the data was carried from the videography method. In processing the data were combined quantitative techniques and microgenetic analysis. The results mainly stood out a wide interdependence between attention sharing attention and the production of meaning in the interaction. It also stands out that the production of meaning implied is a responsiveness between the actions that links actions of the past and the future in the immediate present situation. / Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Alagoas / Apresenta-se aqui um estudo sobre a atenção compartilhada de crianças com o diagnóstico de transtorno do espectro autista. O enfoque no compartilhamento da atenção refletiu o alinhamento desta pesquisa com pressupostos da abordagem sócio histórica. A motivação para uma abordagem sócio histórica da atenção de crianças com esse diagnóstico refletiu a predominância das informações que têm priorizado apenas os aspectos neurológicos dos distúrbios do espectro autista. O objetivo central desta pesquisa foi investigar o compartilhamento da atenção de duas crianças durante atividade em sessões de Terapia Ocupacional. A construção dos dados foi realizada a partir do método da videografia. No tratamento dos dados combinaram-se técnicas quantitativas e análise microgenética. Nos resultados destacaram-se principalmente uma ampla interdependência entre o compartilhamento de atenção e a produção de sentidos na interação. Além disso, destacou-se também que na produção de sentidos implicavam-se uma responsividade entre as ações que vincula ações do passado e do futuro na situação imediata do presente.