Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 14, 2026
07:31
Defining the Role Of Language in Infants' Object Categorization with Eye-tracking Paradigms
Published on: February 8, 2019
Infant pointing: communication to cooperate or communication to learn?
Victoria Southgate1, Catharine van Maanen, Gergely Csibra
1Birkbeck, University of London, London, UK. g.csibra@bbk.ac.uk
Child Development
|May 23, 2007
Summary
Infant pointing is communicative, but may be driven by a desire for information, not just sharing or helping. This interrogative gesture aids cultural learning by seeking knowledge from adults.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Cognitive Science
- Linguistics
Background:
- Tomasello et al. (2007) proposed infant pointing is inherently communicative, serving to share interest or provide information.
- This view suggests early pointing aligns with adult communicative functions.
Discussion:
- This commentary agrees infant pointing is communicative but questions the motives in 12-month-olds.
- An alternative hypothesis posits infant pointing is primarily interrogative, seeking information.
Key Insights:
- Infant pointing may function as a tool for cultural learning.
- Pointing in infants could be a mechanism to elicit information from knowledgeable adults.
- This challenges the purely declarative or imperative interpretations of early pointing.
Outlook:
- Further research is needed to differentiate between sharing, informing, and information-seeking motives in infant pointing.
- Understanding the interrogative function of pointing can illuminate early social cognition and learning mechanisms.
- Exploring the role of pointing in cultural transmission offers new avenues for developmental research.
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