Abstract
Inferring the epistemic states of others is considered to be an essential requirement for humans to communicate; however, the developmental trajectory of this ability is unclear. The aim of the current study was to determine developmental trends in this ability by using pointing behavior as a dependent measure. Infants aged 13 to 18 months (n = 32, 16 females) participated in the study. The experiment consisted of two phases. In the Shared Experience Phase, both the participant and the experimenter experienced (played with) an object, and the participant experienced a second object while the experimenter was absent. In the Pointing Phase, the participant was seated on his/her mother’s lap, facing the experimenter, and the same two objects from the Shared Experience Phase were presented side-by-side behind the experimenter. The participants’ spontaneous pointing was analyzed from video footage. While the analysis of the Shared Experience Phase suggested that there was no significant difference in the duration of the participants’ visual attention to the two objects, the participants pointed more frequently to the object that could be considered “new” for the experimenter (in Experiment 1). This selective pointing was not observed when the experimenter could be considered unfamiliar with both of the objects (in Experiment 2). These findings suggest that infants in this age group spontaneously point, presumably to inform about an object, reflecting the partner’s attentional and knowledge states.
Highlights
Human communication is based on mutual ‘‘understanding’’ about others’ knowledge states as well as their attentional states
The results showed that, as in Experiment 1, there was no significant difference in the duration of looking towards the two objects in the Shared Experience Phase (MNew to Experimenter 1 (E1) = 47.5, SD = 11.02; MFamiliar to E1 = 53.07, SD = 9.99; t(15) = 21.619, p = .126, two-tailed, r = .272), indicating that there was no significant difference between the visual experiences with the two objects
Identical to Experiment 1, to measure each infant’s pointing behavior in the Pointing Phase, we counted the number of trials in which he/she initially pointed to each object, and computed the proportion of NNew to E1/(NNew to E1+ NFamiliar to E1) as an index
Summary
Human communication is based on mutual ‘‘understanding’’ about others’ knowledge states as well as their attentional states. A communication participant has to continuously focus and adjust his/her verbal and nonverbal expressions based on the partner’s attentional and knowledge states, which are inferred through verbal and nonverbal expressions, and contextual information [1,2,3,4,5]. Infants seem to be able to interpret other people’s communicative expressions, reflecting whether, and how, they have previously shared an experience with the communication partner regarding a particular object [6,7,8,9]. Infants communicate in a way that is appropriate to the partner’s epistemic states [10], even in a false-belief type of situation [11]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
