A5001991017- Child and Animal Learning Development
- Hearing Impairment and Communication
- Language Development and Disorders
- Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies
- Action Observation and Synchronization
- Language, Metaphor, and Cognition
- Infant Health and Development
- Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior
- Child Development and Digital Technology
- Language and cultural evolution
- Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment
- Early Childhood Education and Development
- Spatial Cognition and Navigation
- Educational Strategies and Epistemologies
- Memory and Neural Mechanisms
- Linguistics, Language Diversity, and Identity
- Education and Critical Thinking Development
- Social Representations and Identity
- Categorization, perception, and language
- Face Recognition and Perception
- Misinformation and Its Impacts
- Multisensory perception and integration
- Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
- Speech and dialogue systems
- Experimental Behavioral Economics Studies
Universität Hamburg
2016-2025
Max Planck Society
2003-2020
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
2004-2020
University of Winnipeg
2018
Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics
2003-2016
Radboud University Nijmegen
2010-2015
The current article proposes a new theory of infant pointing involving multiple layers intentionality and shared intentionality. In the context this theory, evidence is presented for rich interpretation prelinguistic communication, that is, one posits when 12-month-old infants point an adult they are in some sense trying to influence her mental states. Moreover, also deeply social view which best understood--on many levels ways--as depending on uniquely human skills motivations cooperation...
Infants point for various motives. Classically, one such motive is declarative, to share attention and interest with adults events. Recently, some researchers have questioned whether infants this motivation. In the current study, an adult reacted 12-month-olds' pointing in different ways, infants' responses were observed. Results showed that when shared (i.e alternated gaze emoted), pointed more frequently across trials tended prolong each point--presumably satisfying interaction. However,...
Classically, infants are thought to point for 2 main reasons: (a) They imperatively when they want an adult do something them (e.g., give something; "Juice!"), and (b) declaratively share attention with some interesting event or object ("Look!"). Here we demonstrate the existence of another motive infants' early pointing gestures: inform person location that is searching for. This informative suggests from very in ontogeny humans conceive others as intentional agents informational states...
The influence of culture on cognitive development is well established for school age and older children. But almost nothing known about how different parenting socialization practices in cultures affect infants' young children's earliest emerging social-cognitive skills. In the current monograph, we report a series eight studies which systematically assessed skills 1- to 3-year-old children three diverse cultural settings. One group was from Western, middle-class setting rural Canada other...
Psychological scientists have become increasingly concerned with issues related to methodology and replicability, infancy researchers in particular face specific challenges replicability: For example, high-powered studies are difficult conduct, testing conditions vary across labs, different labs access infant populations. Addressing these concerns, we report on a large-scale, multisite study aimed at (a) assessing the overall replicability of single theoretically important phenomenon (b)...
Several cognitive accounts of human communication argue for a language-independent, prelinguistic basis and language. The current study provides evidence the universality gestural communication. We used standardized, semi-natural elicitation procedure in seven very different cultures around world to test existence preverbal pointing infants their caregivers. Results were that by 10-14 months age, caregivers pointed all same basic situation with similar frequencies proto-typical morphology...
Abstract There is currently controversy over the nature of 1‐year‐olds’ social‐cognitive understanding and motives. In this study we investigated whether 12‐month‐old infants point for others with an their knowledge states a prosocial motive sharing experiences them. Declarative pointing was elicited in four conditions created by crossing two factors: adult partner (1) already attending to target event or not, (2) emoted positively neutrally. Pointing also coded after had ceased. The...
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 gesture location hidden toy. They mostly succeeded this task, which required infer that adult was attempting direct their attention for reason - because she wanted know toy there. Many also reversed roles and produced appropriate gestures same game, indeed there correlation such comprehenders...
Abstract Much of human communication and collaboration is predicated on making predictions about others’ actions. Humans frequently use action mistakes to correct others spare them mistakes. Such anticipatory correcting reveals a social motivation for unsolicited helping. Cognitively, it requires forward inferences actions through mental attributions goal reality representations. The current study shows that infants spontaneously intervene when an adult mistaken the location object she...
This study employed a new "anticipatory intervening" paradigm to tease apart false belief and ignorance-based interpretations of 18-month-olds' helpful informing. We investigated in three experiments whether 18-month-old infants inform an adult selectively about one the two locations depending on adult's which held her toy. In 1 2, falsely believed that experiment 3, was ignorant all cases, however, toy had been removed from contained instead materials wanted avoid. spontaneously informed...
We investigated two main components of infant declarative pointing, reference and attitude, in experiments with a total 106 preverbal infants at 1;0. When an experimenter (E) responded to the pointing these by attending incorrect referent (with positive attitude), repeated within trials redirect E's attention, showing understanding active message repair. In contrast, when E identified infants' correctly but displayed disinterested did not repeat pointed overall fewer trials, unenthusiastic...
Daily activities of forty‐eight 8‐ to 15‐month‐olds and their interlocutors were observed test for the presence frequency triadic joint actions deictic gestures across three different cultures: Yucatec‐Mayans (Mexico), Dutch (Netherlands), Shanghai‐Chinese (China). The amount action which infants exposed differed systematically settings, allowing testing role social–interactional input in ontogeny prelinguistic gestures. Infants gestured more at an earlier age depending on to, revealing...
One of the defining features human language is displacement, ability to make reference absent entities. Here we show that prelinguistic, 12-month-old infants already can use a nonverbal pointing gesture We also chimpanzees—who point for things they want humans give them—do not refer entities in same way. These results demonstrate communicate about but mutually known depends on language, rather deeper social-cognitive skills acts linguistic possible first place. nonlinguistic displaced...
Early identification of primary language delay is crucial to implement effective prevention programs. Available screening instruments are based on parents' reports and have only insufficient predictive validity. This study employed observational measures preverbal infants' gestural communication test its validity for identifying later delays. Pointing behavior fifty‐nine 12‐month‐old infants was analyzed related their skills 1 year later. Results confirm with the hand shape pointing being...
In the current eye‐tracking study, we explored whether 12‐month‐old infants can predict others' social preferences. We showed scenes in which two characters alternately helped or hindered an agent his goal of climbing a hill. control condition, moved up and down hill identical ways to helper hinderer but did not make contact with agent; thus, they cause him reach goal. Following six alternating familiarization trials helping hindering interactions (help–hinder condition) (up–down condition),...
Abstract Index-finger pointing is foundational to language acquisition. Less known about its emergence. In lab-based monthly longitudinal assessments from 8-13 months (N = 31) the study measured predictors of index-finger pointing: parent and infants’ earlier emerging showing, hand-pointing, point-following. All behaviors increased significantly with age showed inter-individual stability. At 11 all except hand were synchronously interrelated, no evidence for an synchronous interrelation...
When we compare human gestures to those of other apes, it looks at first like there is nothing much all. In adult humans, are thought be a window into the processes accompanying language, and sign languages equal spoken language with all its features. Some research firmly emphasises differences between apes; however, question about whether any commonalities rarely investigated, has mostly been confined pointing gestures. The gestural repertoires nonhuman ape species have carefully studied...
This paper investigates the social-cognitive and motivational complexities underlying prelinguistic infants’ gestural communication. With regard to deictic referential gestures, new recent experimental evidence shows that infant pointing is a complex communicative act based on skills cooperative motives. representational findings suggest need re-interpret these gestures as initially non-symbolic social acts . Based available empirical evidence, argues communication emerges foundation of...
Purpose This longitudinal study compared the development of hand and index-finger pointing in children with typical language (TD) delay (LD). First, we examined whether number form gestures during second year life are potential indicators later LD. Second, analyzed influence caregivers' gestural verbal input on children's communicative development. Method Thirty TD 10 LD were observed together their primary caregivers a seminatural setting 5 sessions between ages 12 21 months. Language...