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Kaletsch K, Liszkowski U. A new online paradigm to measure spontaneous pointing in infants and caregivers. Infant Behav Dev 2024; 74:101907. [PMID: 38011762 DOI: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2023.101907] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/20/2023] [Revised: 10/30/2023] [Accepted: 11/10/2023] [Indexed: 11/29/2023]
Abstract
Index-finger pointing is a milestone in the development of referential communication. Previous research has investigated infants' pointing with a variety of paradigms ranging from parent reports to field observations to experimental settings, suggesting that lab-based semi-natural interactional settings seem especially suited to elicit and measure infant pointing. With the Covid-pandemic the need for a comparable online tool became evident enabling also efficient, low-cost, large-scale, diverse data collection. The current study introduces a remote online paradigm, based on the established live 'decorated-room' paradigm. In Experiment 1, 12-months old infants and their caregivers (N = 24) looked at digitally presented stimuli together while being recorded with their webcam. We coded pointing gestures of infants and caregivers as well as caregivers' responses to infants' pointing. In Experiment 2 (N = 47), we optimized stimuli and investigated influences of stimulus characteristics. We systematically varied the style of depiction, stimulus complexity, motion, and facial stimuli. Main findings were that infants and caregivers pointed spontaneously, with mean behaviors ranging within the benchmarks of previously reported findings of the live decorated-room paradigm. Further, the social setting was preserved as revealed by significant relations between parents' responsive points and infants' pointing frequency. Analyses of stimuli characteristics revealed that infants pointed more to stimuli depicting faces than to other stimuli. The new remote online paradigm proves a useful addition to established paradigms. It offers novel opportunities for simplified assessments, large-scale sampling, and worldwide, diversified data collection.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Ulf Liszkowski
- Department of Developmental Psychology, University of Hamburg, Germany
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Ertaş S, Koşkulu-Sancar S, Ger E, Liszkowski U, Küntay AC. Relation of infants' and mothers' pointing to infants' vocabulary measured directly and with parental reports. INFANCY 2023; 28:1007-1029. [PMID: 37655834 DOI: 10.1111/infa.12558] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2022] [Revised: 07/17/2023] [Accepted: 08/14/2023] [Indexed: 09/02/2023]
Abstract
Infants' and parents' pointing gestures predict infants' concurrent and prospective language development. Most studies have measured vocabulary size using parental reports. However, parents tend to underestimate or overestimate infants' vocabulary necessitating the use of direct measures alongside parent reports. The present study examined whether mothers' index-finger pointing, and infants' whole-hand and index-finger pointing at 14 months associate with infants' receptive and expressive vocabulary based on parental reports and directly measured lexical processing efficiency (LPE) concurrently at 14 months and prospectively at 18 months. We used the decorated room paradigm to measure pointing frequency, the Turkish communicative development inventory I to measure infants' receptive vocabulary, Turkish communicative development inventory II to measure their expressive vocabulary, and the Looking-While-Listening (LWL) task to measure LPE. At 14 months, 34 mother-infant dyads, and at 18 months, 30 dyads were included in the analyses. We found that only infants' index-finger pointing frequency at 14 months predicted their LPE (both reaction time and accuracy) prospectively at 18 months but not concurrently at 14 months. Neither maternal pointing nor infants' pointing predicted their receptive and expressive vocabulary based on indirect measurement. The results extend the evidence on the relation between index-finger pointing and language development to a more direct measure of vocabulary.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sura Ertaş
- Department of Psychology, Koç University, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Sümeyye Koşkulu-Sancar
- Department of Educational and Pedagogical Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands
| | - Ebru Ger
- Department of Psychology, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Ulf Liszkowski
- Department of Developmental Psychology, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Aylin C Küntay
- Department of Psychology, Koç University, Istanbul, Turkey
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Suttora C, Guarini A, Zuccarini M, Aceti A, Corvaglia L, Sansavini A. Integrating Gestures and Words to Communicate in Full-Term and Low-Risk Preterm Late Talkers. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2022; 19:ijerph19073918. [PMID: 35409598 PMCID: PMC8997750 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph19073918] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2022] [Revised: 03/10/2022] [Accepted: 03/10/2022] [Indexed: 01/27/2023]
Abstract
Young children use gestures to practice communicative functions that foster their receptive and expressive linguistic skills. Studies investigating the use of gestures by late talkers are limited. This study aimed to investigate the use of gestures and gesture–word combinations and their associations with word comprehension and word and sentence production in late talkers. A further purpose was to examine whether a set of individual and environmental factors accounted for interindividual differences in late talkers’ gesture and gesture–word production. Sixty-one late talkers, including 35 full-term and 26 low-risk preterm children, participated in the study. Parents filled out the Italian short forms of the MacArthur–Bates Communicative Development Inventories (MB–CDI), “Gesture and Words” and “Words and Sentences” when their children were 30-months-old, and they were then invited to participate in a book-sharing session with their child. Children’s gestures and words produced during the book-sharing session were transcribed and coded into CHAT of CHILDES and analyzed with CLAN. Types of spontaneous gestures (pointing and representational gestures) and gesture–word combinations (complementary, equivalent, and supplementary) were coded. Measures of word tokens and MLU were also computed. Correlational analyses documented that children’s use of gesture–word combinations, particularly complementary and supplementary forms, in the book-sharing session was positively associated with linguistic skills both observed during the session (word tokens and MLU) and reported by parents (word comprehension, word production, and sentence production at the MB–CDI). Concerning individual factors, male gender was negatively associated with gesture and gesture–word use, as well as with MB–CDI action/gesture production. In contrast, having a low-risk preterm condition and being later-born were positively associated with the use of gestures and pointing gestures, and having a family history of language and/or learning disorders was positively associated with the use of representational gestures. Furthermore, a low-risk preterm status and a higher cognitive score were positively associated with gesture–word combinations, particularly complementary and supplementary types. With regard to environmental factors, older parental age was negatively associated with late talkers’ use of gestures and pointing gestures. Interindividual differences in late talkers’ gesture and gesture–word production were thus related to several intertwined individual and environmental factors. Among late talkers, use of gestures and gesture–word combinations represents a point of strength promoting receptive and expressive language acquisition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chiara Suttora
- Department of Psychology "Renzo Canestrari", University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy
| | - Annalisa Guarini
- Department of Psychology "Renzo Canestrari", University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy
| | - Mariagrazia Zuccarini
- Department of Educational Sciences, University of Bologna, Via Filippo Re 6, 40126 Bologna, Italy
| | - Arianna Aceti
- Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, IRCCS Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Bologna, Via Massarenti 9, 40138 Bologna, Italy
- Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Bologna, Via Massarenti 9, 40138 Bologna, Italy
| | - Luigi Corvaglia
- Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, IRCCS Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Bologna, Via Massarenti 9, 40138 Bologna, Italy
- Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Bologna, Via Massarenti 9, 40138 Bologna, Italy
| | - Alessandra Sansavini
- Department of Psychology "Renzo Canestrari", University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy
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Motor skills, language development, and visual processing in preterm and full-term infants. CURRENT PSYCHOLOGY 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s12144-021-02658-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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Stamatopoulou D. Empathy and the aesthetic: Why does art still move us? Cogn Process 2017; 19:169-186. [PMID: 28936641 DOI: 10.1007/s10339-017-0836-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2016] [Accepted: 09/05/2017] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
In this article I will argue for the affective-motivation (background affective attitude or orientation) hypothesis that incubates the aesthetic experience and sets the deep frame of our engagement with art. For this, I look at these microgenetic-early passages of (a) affective perception as mapped into the early emergence of tertiary qualities that underlie a sensorimotor synchronization-a coupling of action, emotion and perception via mirroring that result in dynamic embodied anticipatory control and a feeling of proximity/connectedness and (b) developmental passages that are characterized by spatiotemporal coordination and proximity of the self-other/interactive object and thus structure intentionality, shape experience, in an engaging world of action potentialities forming a background affective attitude. As I will argue these qualitative emergent layers provide the minimal for the aesthetic and the 'feeling into' empathy, or their phenomenological counterparts enable engaged, embodied perception and imagination underlying expressive symbolic communication in interpersonal settings but also for the possibility of art. These layers have an 'echoing' effect (pre-attentive) when we let ourselves to be 'moved' from within by art. The underlying mechanism could be found in the mirroring interface of the upcoming bottom-up and feeding forward anticipatory/predictive (top-down) function of the 'embodied action' representations that are affective, imitative and grounded in the body-affective matrix-carrying experiential affordances and keeping the intersubjective ties between spectator and beheld/object. Given the asymmetry on action tendency between them that affords the 'subordination of the goal-directed action' into to the means of the action's unfolding, aesthetic experiences can go deeply back reconstructing the first level of emerging consciousness where both the aesthetic and ethic became actualities. This could be by itself deeply rewarding, amplifying the experience to the 'edge'. This is a 'hot' cognition self-restructuring related to morality when facing the sufferings-so there might be something special bout art and negative emotions in relation to empathy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Despina Stamatopoulou
- Department of Philosophy and Social Sciences, University of Crete, 74100, Rethymnon, Crete, Greece.
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What's the point? Golden and Labrador retrievers living in kennels do not understand human pointing gestures. Anim Cogn 2017; 20:777-787. [PMID: 28508126 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-017-1098-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/25/2016] [Revised: 04/27/2017] [Accepted: 05/05/2017] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
In many studies that have investigated whether dogs' capacities to understand human pointing gestures are aspects of evolutionary or developmental social competences, family-owned dogs have been compared to shelter dogs. However, for most of these studies, the origins of shelter dogs were unknown. Some shelter dogs may have lived with families before entering shelters, and from these past experiences, they may have learned to understand human gestures. Furthermore, there is substantial variation in the methodology and analytic approaches used in such studies (e.g. different pointing protocols, different treatment of trials with no-choice response and indoor vs. outdoor experimental arenas). Such differences in methodologies and analysis techniques used make it difficult to compare results obtained from different studies and may account for the divergent results obtained. We thus attempted to control for several parameters by carrying out a test on dynamic proximal and distal pointing. We studied eleven kennel dogs of known origin that were born and raised in a kennels with limited human interaction. This group was compared to a group of eleven dogs comparable in terms of breed, sex and age that had lived with human families since they were puppies. Our results demonstrate that pet dogs outperform kennel dogs in their comprehension of proximal and distal pointing, regardless of whether trials where no-choice was made were considered as errors or were excluded from statistical analysis, meaning that dogs living in kennels do not understand pointing gestures. Even if genetic effects of the domestication process on human-dog relationships cannot be considered as negligible, our data suggest that dogs need to learn human pointing gestures and thus underscore the importance of ontogenetic processes.
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Soares SC, Maior RS, Isbell LA, Tomaz C, Nishijo H. Fast Detector/First Responder: Interactions between the Superior Colliculus-Pulvinar Pathway and Stimuli Relevant to Primates. Front Neurosci 2017; 11:67. [PMID: 28261046 PMCID: PMC5314318 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2017.00067] [Citation(s) in RCA: 49] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2016] [Accepted: 01/30/2017] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Primates are distinguished from other mammals by their heavy reliance on the visual sense, which occurred as a result of natural selection continually favoring those individuals whose visual systems were more responsive to challenges in the natural world. Here we describe two independent but also interrelated visual systems, one cortical and the other subcortical, both of which have been modified and expanded in primates for different functions. Available evidence suggests that while the cortical visual system mainly functions to give primates the ability to assess and adjust to fluid social and ecological environments, the subcortical visual system appears to function as a rapid detector and first responder when time is of the essence, i.e., when survival requires very quick action. We focus here on the subcortical visual system with a review of behavioral and neurophysiological evidence that demonstrates its sensitivity to particular, often emotionally charged, ecological and social stimuli, i.e., snakes and fearful and aggressive facial expressions in conspecifics. We also review the literature on subcortical involvement during another, less emotional, situation that requires rapid detection and response-visually guided reaching and grasping during locomotion-to further emphasize our argument that the subcortical visual system evolved as a rapid detector/first responder, a function that remains in place today. Finally, we argue that investigating deficits in this subcortical system may provide greater understanding of Parkinson's disease and Autism Spectrum disorders (ASD).
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Affiliation(s)
- Sandra C. Soares
- Department of Education and Psychology, CINTESIS.UA, University of AveiroAveiro, Portugal
- Division of Psychology, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska InstituteStockholm, Sweden
- William James Research Center, Instituto Superior de Psicologia AplicadaLisbon, Portugal
| | - Rafael S. Maior
- Division of Psychology, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska InstituteStockholm, Sweden
- Department of Physiological Sciences, Primate Center, Institute of Biology, University of BrasíliaBrasília, Brazil
| | - Lynne A. Isbell
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, DavisDavis, CA, USA
| | - Carlos Tomaz
- Department of Physiological Sciences, Primate Center, Institute of Biology, University of BrasíliaBrasília, Brazil
- Ceuma University, Neuroscience Research CoordinationSão Luis, Brazil
| | - Hisao Nishijo
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of ToyamaToyama, Japan
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Cochet H, Jover M, Oger L, Vauclair J. Morphological Differences Between Imperative and Declarative Pointing: Hand Shape, Arm Extension, and Body Posture. J Mot Behav 2014; 46:223-32. [DOI: 10.1080/00222895.2014.889066] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
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Cochet H, Vauclair J. Deictic gestures and symbolic gestures produced by adults in an experimental context: hand shapes and hand preferences. Laterality 2013; 19:278-301. [PMID: 23758417 DOI: 10.1080/1357650x.2013.804079] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
The objective of this study was to gain new insights into the processes underlying gestural communication in adults by examining hand shapes and hand preference patterns associated with different types of gestures. Several communicative situations eliciting pointing gestures and symbolic gestures were presented to 81 participants in an experimental context. Results have highlighted some differences in hand shapes depending on the function of pointing: contrary to results reported in children, the proportion of index-finger gestures was higher in imperative situations than in declarative situations. The distance between the gesturer and the referent was also found to influence hand shapes, proximal pointing being more frequently associated with index-finger gestures than distal pointing. The comparison of hand preferences revealed a greater right-sided asymmetry for declarative pointing than for non-communicative activities, whereas there was no difference between imperative pointing and non-communicative activities, or between symbolic gestures and non-communicative activities. The present study thus sheds some light on the features and the roles of communicative gestures in adults. Results are discussed in relation to the ontogenetic and phylogenetic origins of communication.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hélène Cochet
- a School of Psychology & Neuroscience , University of St Andrews , Fife , UK
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Vauclair J, Cochet H. Hand preference for pointing and language development in toddlers. Dev Psychobiol 2012; 55:757-65. [DOI: 10.1002/dev.21073] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/17/2012] [Accepted: 07/12/2012] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
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Esseily R, Jacquet AY, Fagard J. Handedness for grasping objects and pointing and the development of language in 14-month-old infants. Laterality 2011; 16:565-85. [DOI: 10.1080/1357650x.2010.499911] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
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“Symbol formation and the embodied self: A microgenetic case-study examination of the transition to symbolic communication in scribbling activities from 14 to 31 months of age”. NEW IDEAS IN PSYCHOLOGY 2011. [DOI: 10.1016/j.newideapsych.2010.09.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
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REFERENCES. Monogr Soc Res Child Dev 2011. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-5834.2011.00608.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
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Dice JL, Dove MK. A Piagetian approach to infant referential behaviors. Infant Behav Dev 2011; 34:481-6. [DOI: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2011.04.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/05/2009] [Revised: 06/17/2010] [Accepted: 04/01/2011] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
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Cochet H, Vauclair J. Pointing gestures produced by toddlers from 15 to 30 months: Different functions, hand shapes and laterality patterns. Infant Behav Dev 2010; 33:431-41. [DOI: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2010.04.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 92] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/14/2009] [Revised: 01/27/2010] [Accepted: 04/23/2010] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
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Luo Y. Do 8-Month-Old Infants Consider Situational Constraints When Interpreting Others’ Gaze as Goal-Directed Action? INFANCY 2010; 15:392-419. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1532-7078.2009.00019.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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Vauclair J, Imbault J. Relationship between manual preferences for object manipulation and pointing gestures in infants and toddlers. Dev Sci 2009; 12:1060-9. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-7687.2009.00850.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 60] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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Franco F, Perucchini P, March B. Is Infant Initiation of Joint Attention by Pointing Affected by Type of Interaction? SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT 2009. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9507.2008.00464.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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Abstract
It is now widely accepted that sensitivity to goal-directed actions emerges during the first year of life. However, controversy still surrounds the question of how this sensitivity emerges and develops. One set of views emphasizes the role of observing behavioral cues, while another emphasizes the role of experience with producing own action. In a series of four experiments we contrast these two views. In Experiment 1, it was shown that infants as young as 6 months old can interpret an unfamiliar human action as goal-directed when the action involves equifinal variations. Experiments 2 and 3 demonstrated that 12- and 9-month-olds are also able to attribute goals to an inanimate action if it displays behavioral cues such as self-propelledness and an action-effect. In Experiment 4, we found that even 6-months-olds can encode the goal object of an inanimate action if all three cues, equifinality, self-propelledness and an action-effect, were present. These findings suggest that the ability to ascribe goal-directedness does not necessarily emerge from hands-on experience with particular actions and that it is independent from the specific appearance of the actor as long as sufficient behavioral cues are available. We propose a cue-based bootstrapping model in which an initial sensitivity to behavioral cues leads to learning about further cues. The further cues in turn inform about different kinds of goal-directed agents and about different types of actions. By uniting an innate base with a learning process, cue-based bootstrapping can help reconcile divergent views on the emergence of infants' ability to understand actions as goal-directed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Szilvia Biro
- Department of Psychology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands.
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Liszkowski U, Carpenter M, Henning A, Striano T, Tomasello M. Twelve-month-olds point to share attention and interest. Dev Sci 2005; 7:297-307. [PMID: 15595371 DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-7687.2004.00349.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 341] [Impact Index Per Article: 17.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Infants point for various motives. Classically, one such motive is declarative, to share attention and interest with adults to events. Recently, some researchers have questioned whether infants have this motivation. In the current study, an adult reacted to 12-month-olds' pointing in different ways, and infants' responses were observed. Results showed that when the adult shared attention and interest (i.e alternated gaze and emoted), infants pointed more frequently across trials and tended to prolong each point--presumably to prolong the satisfying interaction. However, when the adult emoted to the infant alone or looked only to the event, infants pointed less across trials and repeated points more within trials--presumably in an attempt to establish joint attention. Results suggest that 12-month-olds point declaratively and understand that others have psychological states that can be directed and shared.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ulf Liszkowski
- Department of Developmental and Comparative Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany.
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