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Gaze Following Is Not Dependent on Ostensive Cues: A Critical Test of Natural Pedagogy
Author(s) -
Gredebäck Gustaf,
Astor Kim,
Fawcett Christine
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.103
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1467-8624
pISSN - 0009-3920
DOI - 10.1111/cdev.13026
Subject(s) - ostensive definition , gaze , psychology , natural (archaeology) , cognitive psychology , set (abstract data type) , social psychology , linguistics , psychoanalysis , philosophy , archaeology , computer science , history , programming language
The theory of natural pedagogy stipulates that infants follow gaze because they are sensitive to the communicative intent of others. According to this theory, gaze following should be present if, and only if, accompanied by at least one of a set of specific ostensive cues. The current article demonstrates gaze following in a range of contexts, both with and without expressions of communicative intent in a between‐subjects design with a large sample of 6‐month‐old infants ( n = 94). Thus, conceptually replicating prior results from Szufnarowska et al. (2014) and falsifying a central pillar of the natural pedagogy theory. The results suggest that there are opportunities to learn from others’ gaze independently of their displayed communicative intent.