Twelve-month-olds’ comprehension and production of pointing

Behne, Tanya; Liszkowski, Ulf; Carpenter, Malinda; Tomasello, Michael

doi:10.1111/j.2044-835X.2011.02043.x

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Twelve-month-olds’ comprehension and production of pointing

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Liszkowski, Ulf
Communication Before Language, MPI for Psycholinguistics, Max Planck Society;

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Citation

Behne, T., Liszkowski, U., Carpenter, M., & Tomasello, M. (2012). Twelve-month-olds’ comprehension and production of pointing. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 30, 359-375. doi:10.1111/j.2044-835X.2011.02043.x.

Cite as: https://hdl.handle.net/11858/00-001M-0000-0013-40A5-E

Abstract

This study explored whether infants aged 12 months already recognize the communicative function of pointing gestures. Infants participated in a task requiring them to comprehend an adult’s informative pointing gesture to the location of a hidden toy. They mostly succeeded in this task, which required them to infer that the adult was attempting to direct their attention to a location for a reason – because she wanted them to know that a toy was hidden there. Many of the infants also reversed roles and produced appropriate pointing gestures for the adult in this same game, and indeed there was a correlation such that comprehenders were for the most part producers. These findings indicate that by 12 months of age infants are beginning to show a bidirectional understanding of communicative pointing.