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Origins of the human pointing gesture: a training study.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Matthews, D; Behne, T; Lieven, E; Tomasello, M
Published in: Developmental science
November 2012

Despite its importance in the development of children's skills of social cognition and communication, very little is known about the ontogenetic origins of the pointing gesture. We report a training study in which mothers gave children one month of extra daily experience with pointing as compared with a control group who had extra experience with musical activities. One hundred and two infants of 9, 10, or 11 months of age were seen at the beginning, middle, and end of this one-month period and tested for declarative pointing and gaze following. Infants'ability to point with the index finger at the end of the study was not affected by the training but was instead predicted by infants' prior ability to follow the gaze direction of an adult. The frequency with which infants pointed indexically was also affected by infant gaze following ability and, in addition, by maternal pointing frequency in free play, but not by training. In contrast, infants' ability to monitor their partner's gaze when pointing, and the frequency with which they did so, was affected by both training and maternal pointing frequency in free play. These results suggest that prior social cognitive advances, rather than adult socialization of pointing per se, determine the developmental onset of indexical pointing, but socialization processes such as imitation and adult shaping subsequently affect both infants' ability to monitor their interlocutor's gaze while they point and how frequently infants choose to point.

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Published In

Developmental science

DOI

EISSN

1467-7687

ISSN

1363-755X

Publication Date

November 2012

Volume

15

Issue

6

Start / End Page

817 / 829

Related Subject Headings

  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Nonverbal Communication
  • Male
  • Humans
  • Hand
  • Gestures
  • Female
  • Eye Movements
  • Developmental & Child Psychology
  • Child, Preschool
 

Citation

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Matthews, D., Behne, T., Lieven, E., & Tomasello, M. (2012). Origins of the human pointing gesture: a training study. Developmental Science, 15(6), 817–829. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7687.2012.01181.x
Matthews, Danielle, Tanya Behne, Elena Lieven, and Michael Tomasello. “Origins of the human pointing gesture: a training study.Developmental Science 15, no. 6 (November 2012): 817–29. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7687.2012.01181.x.
Matthews D, Behne T, Lieven E, Tomasello M. Origins of the human pointing gesture: a training study. Developmental science. 2012 Nov;15(6):817–29.
Matthews, Danielle, et al. “Origins of the human pointing gesture: a training study.Developmental Science, vol. 15, no. 6, Nov. 2012, pp. 817–29. Epmc, doi:10.1111/j.1467-7687.2012.01181.x.
Matthews D, Behne T, Lieven E, Tomasello M. Origins of the human pointing gesture: a training study. Developmental science. 2012 Nov;15(6):817–829.
Journal cover image

Published In

Developmental science

DOI

EISSN

1467-7687

ISSN

1363-755X

Publication Date

November 2012

Volume

15

Issue

6

Start / End Page

817 / 829

Related Subject Headings

  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Nonverbal Communication
  • Male
  • Humans
  • Hand
  • Gestures
  • Female
  • Eye Movements
  • Developmental & Child Psychology
  • Child, Preschool