Emergence of shared reference and shared minds in infancy

The emergence of a social-interactional 'infrastructure' of communication in infancy has remained underspecified until recently. I argue and show that firstly, the ability for shared reference is firmly established around 12 months of age when infants begin to point, enabling a meeting of shared minds; secondly, interactions entailing different perspectives and minds emerge only thereafter, based on prior interactional experiences; thirdly, the emergence of shared reference is itself mediated by interaction and caregivers' assistance in goal-directed activities. Instead of focusing on the infrastructure of shared reference in infancy as a snapshot, I suggest focusing on the process of social and cognitive co-construction in which shared reference is as much a foundation as an ontogenetic outcome of social cognition and interaction.