Infants can infer the presence of hidden objects from referential gaze information

• Published in: British journal of developmental psychology Vol. 26; no. 1; pp. 1 - 11
• Main Authors: Csibra, Gergely, Volein, Ágnes
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.03.2008; British Psychological Society
• Subjects: Age Differences; Behaviourism; Biological and medical sciences; Child Development; Child psychology; Comparative Analysis; Developmental Psychology; Expectation; Eye fixation; Eye Movements; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Hidden objects; Infants; Inferences; Information; Information processing; Newborn. Infant; Object; Object Permanence; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Task Analysis; Toddlers; Human; Occlusion; Gaze; Social interaction; Reference; Vision; Perception; Infant; Experimental study; Social cognition
• ISSN: 0261-510X; 2044-835X
• DOI: 10.1348/026151007X185987

Infants' apparent failure in gaze‐following tasks is often interpreted as a sign of lack of understanding the referential nature of looking. In the present study, 8‐ and 12‐month‐old infants followed the gaze of a model to one of two locations hidden from their view by occluders. When the occluders were removed, an object was revealed either at the location where the model had looked or at the other side. Infants at both ages looked longer at the empty location when it had been indicated by the model's looking behaviour, and this effect held up even when their first look after gaze following was discounted. This result demonstrates that even young infants hold referential expectations when they follow others' gaze and infer the location of hidden objects accordingly.