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Twelve‐month‐olds’ comprehension and production of pointing
Author(s) -
Behne Tanya,
Liszkowski Ulf,
Carpenter Malinda,
Tomasello Michael
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
british journal of developmental psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.062
H-Index - 75
eISSN - 2044-835X
pISSN - 0261-510X
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-835x.2011.02043.x
Subject(s) - gesture , comprehension , psychology , task (project management) , nonverbal communication , cognitive psychology , developmental psychology , communication , linguistics , philosophy , management , economics
This study explored whether infants aged 12 months already recognize the communicative function of pointing gestures. Infants participated in a task requiring them to comprehend an adult's informative pointing gesture to the location of a hidden toy. They mostly succeeded in this task, which required them to infer that the adult was attempting to direct their attention to a location for a reason – because she wanted them to know that a toy was hidden there. Many of the infants also reversed roles and produced appropriate pointing gestures for the adult in this same game, and indeed there was a correlation such that comprehenders were for the most part producers. These findings indicate that by 12 months of age infants are beginning to show a bidirectional understanding of communicative pointing.