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Related Experiment Video

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Caregivers interpret infants' early gestures based on shared knowledge about referents.

Nevena Dimitrova1, Christiane Moro2, Christine Mohr2

  • 1Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, United States.

Infant Behavior & Development
|April 2, 2015
PubMed
Summary

Caregivers interpret infants' communicative gestures by relying on shared knowledge about objects. As infants gain object use skills, caregivers more accurately understand their intended messages.

Keywords:
Communicative functionDevelopmental pragmaticsGestureObject useParent–child interactionShared knowledge

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Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Child Communication
  • Cognitive Science

Background:

  • Infants' early communication relies heavily on gestures, often requiring caregiver interpretation.
  • Understanding how caregivers attribute communicative function to infant gestures is crucial for early development.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the role of shared knowledge in caregiver interpretation of infant gestures.
  • To determine if infants' understanding of object use influences caregiver's perception of their communicative intent.

Main Methods:

  • Videotaped interactions of 6 caregiver-infant dyads during play across 5 age points (8-16 months).
  • Coded infant gesture production and caregiver interpretation of communicative function.
  • Assessed infants' conventional object use as a proxy for shared knowledge.

Main Results:

  • A significant association was found between infants' developing knowledge of object use and caregivers' interpretation of gestures as having clear communicative functions.
  • Maternal interpretation of infant gestures improved as infants demonstrated greater understanding of object conventions.

Conclusions:

  • Shared knowledge, particularly regarding object use, plays a vital role in shaping caregiver interpretations of infant gestures.
  • Findings highlight the importance of referent knowledge in the development of early communicative skills between infants and caregivers.