Onset of Voluntary Communication: Smiling Looks to Mother

Playing infants often direct smiling looks toward social partners. In some cases the smile begins before the look, so it cannot be a response to the sight or behavior of the social partner. In this study we asked whether smiles that anticipate social contact are used by 8- to 12-month-old infants as voluntary social signals. Eighty infants-20 at each of 8, 9, 10, and 12 months of age-completed 5 tasks. The tasks assessed anticipatory smiling during toy play, means-end understanding (2 tasks), intentional communication via gesture and vocalizations, and memory for mother's location. Across all ages, anticipatory smiling was strongly predicted by intentional gestural and vocal communication and by means-end understanding. The findings are discussed in terms of the nature and origins of infants' voluntary communications.