Twelve-month-old infants rationally attribute goals to inanimate objects

This study investigated whether infants use context-sensitive behavioral cues to view the movements of an inanimate object as goal-directed, and use this representation to predict its future behavior. Twelve-month-old infants (N = 48, 38 % female, all Asian) were habituated to a circle consistently jumping over an obstacle on the way to a toy. In one condition, the circle launched by itself; in the other, it was launched by a rod. The motion patterns of the two circles were identical including characteristics such as equifinality, persistence, and efficiency. In the test events, the toy observed in the habituation was switched to a different location and a new toy was introduced in the old toy's previous location. Infants dishabituated to the change in the goal toy across conditions. Goal attribution in early action understanding is thus flexible: infants use the principle of rational action to justify the current goal, and continue to track it in a changed context.