The understanding of a simple reach and grasp action of a hand as goal-directed by 6 and 9 months old infants

There is evidence that at an age of 6 months old, infants are able to at least interpret a simple goal-directed action as intentional. But there are still questions on how infants come to a goal-directed interpretation of human actions. Therefore, we conducted two experiments, investigating the role of cues from the situation and from the actor’s behavior allowing infants to understand the goal-directedness of an action. More specifically, using the violation of expectations method, we examined how 6 and 9 months old infants interpret a simple action of a hand, which does not provide infants with any situational and behavioral cues. Therefore, we first familiarized infants with a reach and grasp movement of a hand towards a toy. This was followed by two test events: one in which the path of the hand was changed (to reach for the same object) and one in which the target object changed (either grasping a new object in Experiment 1 or stopping at the new object in Experiment 2). We...Show moreThere is evidence that at an age of 6 months old, infants are able to at least interpret a simple goal-directed action as intentional. But there are still questions on how infants come to a goal-directed interpretation of human actions. Therefore, we conducted two experiments, investigating the role of cues from the situation and from the actor’s behavior allowing infants to understand the goal-directedness of an action. More specifically, using the violation of expectations method, we examined how 6 and 9 months old infants interpret a simple action of a hand, which does not provide infants with any situational and behavioral cues. Therefore, we first familiarized infants with a reach and grasp movement of a hand towards a toy. This was followed by two test events: one in which the path of the hand was changed (to reach for the same object) and one in which the target object changed (either grasping a new object in Experiment 1 or stopping at the new object in Experiment 2). We found that infants of 9 months old looked both longer to the new goal test event (Experiment 1) and no goal test event (Experiment 2) compared to the same goal test event (used in both experiments). This indicates they found both the reach and grasp of a new goal and the achievement of no goal at all more unexpected compared to achieving the same goal. Six months old infants however, only found it more unexpected when the hand did not achieve a goal anymore, but only when provided with additional situational cues (our control condition). This suggests a developmental shift in the role of cues from the actor and the situation for the interpretation of goal-directed actions of humans by infants.Show less

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The understanding of a simple reach and grasp action of a hand as goal-directed by 6 and 9 months old infants