Merideth Gattis

Loading metrics Open Access Peer-reviewed Research Article Citation: Mitev K, Whitmarsh L, Gattis M, Nash N (2025) Shifting horizons: Significant life events and pro-environmental behaviour change in early adulthood. PLOS Clim 4(10): e0000709. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pclm.0000709 Editor: Md Wahid Murad, University of South Australia, AUSTRALIA Received: March 29, 2025; Accepted: September 1, 2025; Published: October 15, 2025 Copyright: © 2025 Mitev et al.

1 INTRODUCTION Visual attention plays a foundational role in the development of cognitive and communicative skills (Çetinçelik et al., 2021; Salley et al., 2016; Tenenbaum et al., 2015). For example, visual fixation and tracking during early infancy are positively associated with cognitive performance on standardized assessments at 5 years (Stjerna et al., 2015).

Before babies start saying words, it is hard for parents to know whether their little one actually understands the things that they say to them. Many parenting magazines and books recommend speaking to children even before parents think their babies can understand what they’re saying – and sometimes even before they’re born – because it helps babies to recognise voices and begin to learn about language.