2011/07/04 by Tanya Behne, Ulf Liszkowski, Malinda Carpenter +1 · 5 citations
Psychology · #Action Observation and Synchronization #Child and Animal Learning Development #Hearing Impairment and Communication
paper · doi:10.1111/j.2044-835x.2011.02043.x
openalex publication_date 2011/07/04 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/27
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.