The attribution of attention: 9-month-olds' interpretation of gaze as goal-directed action.
The current study distinguishes between attributions of goal-directed perception (i.e. attention) and non-goal-directed perception to examine 9-month-olds' interpretation of others' head and eye turns. In a looking time task, 9-month-olds encoded the relationship between an actor's head and eye turns and a target object if the head and eye turns were embedded in a sequence of multiple, variable actions with equifinal outcomes, but not otherwise. This evidence supports the claim that infants of this age may attribute perception, at least goal-directed perception, to others and undermines arguments that gaze-following at this age consists only of uninterpreted reflexes. The evidence also suggests alternative interpretations of the typical errors infants make in standard gaze-following procedures. Implications for infants' understanding of perception and attention in both human and non-human agents are discussed.
Johnson
Susan C
SC
Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. scj@psych.stanford.edu
Ok
Su-Jeong
SJ
Luo
Yuyan
Y
D001288:Attention; D001519:Behavior; D015509:Developmental Biology; D004777:Environment; D005260:Female; D005403:Fixation, Ocular; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D018730:Infant Behavior; D008297:Male; D008954:Models, Biological; D008959:Models, Neurological; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D014741:Video Recording; D014796:Visual Perception