Abstract
Recognizing that the object-directed actions of others are governed by goals and intentions is a crucial component of human interaction. These actions often occur rapidly and without explanation, yet we learn from and predict the actions of others with remarkable speed and accuracy, even during the first year of life. This review paper will serve as a bridge between several disparate literatures that, we suggest, can each contribute to our understanding of how infants interpret action. Specifically, we provide a review not just of research on infant goal attribution per se, but also incorporate findings from studies on the mirror neuron system and infant object cognition. The integration of these various research approaches allows for a novel construal of the extents and limits of early goal attribution – one in which the importance of the entire action context is considered – and points to specific future research directions.
Highlights
For 20 years, we have known that infants are able to encode the object-directed actions of others in terms of their goals (e.g., Gergely et al, 1995; Meltzoff, 1995; Woodward, 1998)
The affordances of an object, and the infant’s experience with the use of a particular object, influence infants’ expectations for action on that object For instance, one study found that 12month-old infants, after watching an experimenter reach for and grasp one of two objects, demonstrated stronger motor cortex activation in response to ‘extraordinary’ events than to ‘ordinary events’
We have drawn from research on the mirror neuron system, object understanding, and infant goal understanding, compared findings and methodologies across these disciplines, and discussed how findings from each of these domains may have implications for the others
Summary
For 20 years, we have known that infants are able to encode the object-directed actions of others in terms of their goals (e.g., Gergely et al, 1995; Meltzoff, 1995; Woodward, 1998). In one study with adults, it was shown that Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation of the hand motor area, but not of the leg area, produced deficits in predictive saccades while watching a reaching hand (Elsner et al, 2013) It has been proposed by proponents of this theory that mirror neurons represent an evolutionarily selected innate endowment (Rizzolatti et al, 1996; Gallese et al, 2007); some studies have provided support for this through the use of EEG with rhesus macaque neonates during observation and production of facial movements (Ferrari et al, 2012). Experience matters in that it provides a template for the prediction, but the experience does not necessarily have to match the observed action
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