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Infant pointing serves an interrogative function

Katarina Begus1, Victoria Southgate

  • 1Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck, University of London, UK.

Developmental Science
|August 29, 2012
PubMed

Insights

Infants point to gain information, not just to share attention. They selectively seek information from knowledgeable individuals, demonstrating early social cognition geared towards learning.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Cognitive Science
  • Human Social Cognition

Background:

  • Infant pointing behavior is increasingly studied for its role in social cognition.
  • Previous research suggests pointing primarily serves to share attention and foster cooperation.
  • An alternative hypothesis posits pointing aims to acquire information from others.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if infants point to obtain information rather than solely to share attention.
  • To determine if infants modulate their pointing based on the perceived competence of the interaction partner.

Main Methods:

  • Experiment 1: 16-month-olds interacted with either a knowledgeable or ignorant experimenter.
  • Experiment 2: Confirmed the effect was due to perceived competence, not differential responses.
  • Measured pointing frequency towards novel objects in different experimental conditions.

Main Results:

  • Infants pointed significantly more at novel objects when interacting with a knowledgeable experimenter.
  • This increased pointing was linked to the experimenter's perceived competence.
  • The findings were not attributable to variations in how the experimenter responded to infant points.

Conclusions:

  • Infant pointing serves the function of information acquisition.
  • Infants strategically direct their pointing to individuals perceived as competent information sources.
  • This highlights a sophisticated aspect of early social learning and information seeking.

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