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Is ostension any more than attention?
Joanna Szufnarowska1, Katharina J Rohlfing1, Christine Fawcett2
1Emergentist Semantics Group, CITEC, Bielefeld University, Germany.
Scientific Reports
|June 17, 2014
Summary
Six-month-old infants follow gaze in attention-grabbing situations, even without communicative cues. This challenges natural pedagogy theory, showing infant gaze following isn't limited to ostensive signals.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Cognitive Science
- Infant Learning
Background:
- Natural pedagogy theory posits infants use ostensive cues to learn referential information.
- Ostensive cues signal communicative intent and direct infant attention for learning.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether 6-month-old infants' gaze following is contingent on ostensive cues.
- To test the role of attention-grabbing situations in infant gaze following.
Main Methods:
- Infants were presented with situations varying in attention-grabbing salience and ostensive cues.
- Gaze following behavior was observed in response to a model's gaze shifts.
Main Results:
- Infants followed gaze in highly attention-grabbing situations, regardless of ostensive cues.
- Gaze following was not observed in less attention-grabbing contexts without ostensive cues.
Conclusions:
- Sensitivity to gaze following in infancy is not restricted to ostensive contexts.
- Attention salience, not just communicative intent, drives early gaze following.
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