Abstract
The current experiment investigated whether 6-month-olds can predict the goal of others' actions. Infants were familiarized to an actor repeatedly reaching for and grasping object-A as opposed to object-B. Object-B was either (1) visible to the actor; (2) hidden by an opaque screen from the actor (but not the infants); or (3) placed behind the screen by the actor herself, so that even though she could no longer see object-B, she was aware of its presence. The positions of the two objects were then reversed. During the test trial, we measured the infants' eye fixations while the actor paused for 6. s. The infants generated predictive eye movements toward object-A only when the actor could see object-B (1) or was aware of its presence in the situation (3). Thus, 6-month-olds can predict, rather than only retrospectively respond to, the goal objects of others' actions.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1-13 |
| Number of pages | 13 |
| Journal | Cognitive Development |
| Volume | 33 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2015 Jan 1 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This work was supported by National Research Foundation Grant of Korea (NRF- 2012-S1A3-A2033375 ) and the Yonsei University Research Fund of 2014. We would like to thank Kris Onishi for helpful comments on this manuscript. In addition, we are grateful to the parents and infants who participated in this study and the members of the Yonsei Child Development Laboratory.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2014 Elsevier Inc.
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
- Developmental and Educational Psychology