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Looking Behind vs. Front to Follow Points: The Longitudinal Link between Maternal Pointing and Infant Vocabulary
Sura Ertaş1,2, Ebru Ger3, Sümeyye Koşkulu-Sancar4
1Department of Psychology, https://ror.org/00jzwgz36Koç University, Türkiye.
Journal of Child Language
|March 30, 2026
Summary
Infants who follow their mother's point develop better receptive vocabulary. Maternal pointing aids receptive vocabulary growth primarily in infants skilled at following points, not just those looking in the direction pointed.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Linguistics
- Child Development
Background:
- Early language acquisition is influenced by social interactions.
- Maternal responsivity and infant engagement are key factors in vocabulary development.
- Pointing gestures serve as crucial communicative tools between mothers and infants.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the predictive role of maternal pointing and infant point-following on vocabulary acquisition.
- To examine the interaction between maternal pointing frequency and infant point-following ability.
- To determine the impact on both receptive and expressive vocabulary development.
Main Methods:
- Longitudinal study of 56 Turkish-speaking mother-infant dyads from 8 to 12 months.
- Utilized decorated room and point-following paradigms to assess pointing behaviors.
- Measured receptive and expressive vocabulary using the Turkish Communicative Development Inventory (CDI) at 14 and 18 months.
Main Results:
- Infant point-following at 11 months predicted receptive vocabulary.
- The interaction of maternal pointing and infant point-following at 12 months predicted receptive vocabulary.
- Maternal pointing benefited receptive vocabulary only for advanced point-followers, not visual-field followers.
Conclusions:
- Infant point-following is a significant predictor of early receptive vocabulary.
- Maternal pointing's effect on receptive vocabulary is moderated by infant's point-following skill.
- Neither maternal pointing nor infant point-following significantly predicted expressive vocabulary in this cohort.
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