Social perception: How do 6-month-old infants look at pointing gestures?

Clara Schmitow; Olga Kochukhova; Pär Nyström

doi:10.1016/j.infbeh.2015.12.001

Social perception: How do 6-month-old infants look at pointing gestures?

Infant Behav Dev. 2016 Feb:42:152-6. doi: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2015.12.001. Epub 2016 Feb 8.

Authors

Clara Schmitow¹, Olga Kochukhova², Pär Nyström³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Social Sciences, Södertörn University, Sweden.
² Department of Psychology, Uppsala University, Sweden. Electronic address: olga.kochukhova@psyk.uu.se.
³ Department of Psychology, Uppsala University, Sweden.

PMID: 26859864
DOI: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2015.12.001

Abstract

The study explored 6-month-old infants' ability to follow a pointing gesture in a dynamic social context. The infants were presented with a video of a model pointing to one of two toys. The pointing gesture was performed either normally (with arm and hand pointing at the same direction), with a stick, or the model's arm and hand pointing in different directions (at different toys). The results indicate that infants at this age reliably followed pointing performed normally.

Keywords: Gaze direction; Infants; Pointing; Social context.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Child Development / physiology*
Cues
Eye Movement Measurements
Female
Gestures*
Humans
Infant
Male
Motion Perception / physiology*
Photic Stimulation / methods
Play and Playthings
Social Perception