The Ontogenetic Emergence of Shared Intentionality. Origins of Human Communication.

Description : Lecture 3. The Early Ontogeny of Co-operative Communication
Infants' co-operative gestures have full adult structure from their outse.

Some think infants' early pointing not "real thing" Here: yes, both in terms of structure and motivation => BEFORE LANGUAGE

3.1. Early Pointing at 12 Months
Infants social initially only dyadically => 9-month revolution Joint Attentional Frame Comp: Behne et al. (2005a) object choice - 12-14 mos. Comp: Liebal et al. (in prep) on shifting JAFs - 18 mos. control cond: frame must be shared! Production: Table 2a [12-13 mos.] point to table vs. chair for same function Referential Intention Moore's challenge: infants point when A already looking Liszkowski et al. (2004) - 12 mos. => need target Liszkowski et al. (submitted a) - 12 mos. - misunderstand referent need specific target Liszkowski et al. (submitted b) - 12 mos. - absent referents see also Table 2a Golinkoff: negotiation of meaning at 10-18 mos. Social Intention (Motive) Expressives: I want: we know: I want: we feel X - 12 mos: Liszkowski et al (2004): sharing attention & attitudes - 12 mos: Liszkowski et al (sub a) - wrong attitude Informatives: I want: we know: I want: you know X - 12-14 mos: Behne et al. (2005a) - comprehend informative - 12 mos: Liszkowski et al (2006) produce informative - Liszkowski et al (in prep) follow up on 'knowledge' Requestives: I want: we know: I want: you do X - 11-12 mos: Camaioni (co-operative or individual?) - 24 mos: Schwe-Behne - co-operative imperative No pointing for greeting, thanking, apologizing referent = my feeling w/ language: all early, 18 mos. (comprehension?) Communicative Intention [¿really?] Not hidden authorship, but something more primordial Adults want infants to do things; infants know this learn to direct things to others: eye contact, etc. Albrecht et al: 12 mo. olds know that others must see gesture Behne et al. (2005a) control condition at 14 mos. - see as not communicative in experimental condition make relevance inference Liszk (sub b): 12-mo-olds point still after sharing w/ adult (to stress comm?) Shwe-Behne: 2 yr olds correct misund. even when get what want Moll & T - 14-mos. know what we experienced together Characterizing gestures Early ritualizations: reject, put--me-down, pick-me-up (like apes, 1-way) Diary examples, Table 2b taught baby signs = like words; iconic? invented? spontaneous examples in Table 2b Understand such gestures for objs (not replicas) by 18 mos (T et al, '99) for 'actions I should do' by 30 mos (Haimerl in prep) (videos).

3.2. The Early Ontogeny of Pointing
Infants have pointing hand-shape at 3 to 6 months (Hannan, 1987) Infants solicit adult help (requestive) at 3 to 6 months Infants share emotions (expressive) at 3 to 6 months Why no communicative pointing? Answer: don't understand or share intentions until 9-12 months Und goals & intentions: Gergely et al. (1995); Behne et al. (2005b): 9 mos. Gergely et al. ('02); Schweir et al. (in press) - rational choice: 12- mos. Und. perception & attention.: Tomas & Haberl (2003): 12 mos. Moll et al. (in press) - rational choice: 14 mos. Und. what others 'know': Onishi & Baill, 2005; T & Haberl , 2003 : 12 mos. Mutual attention/knowledge: Moll & Tomas (in press) : 14 mos. Helping: Kuhlmeir et al., 2003; Warneken & T (2006) : 12-14 mos. Reciprocal tendency & expectation to help: ¿convention? ¿norm? THIS ANSWER PROVIDES EVIDENCE THAT EARLY POINTING BASED ON MENTAL STATES AND CO-OPERATIVE MOTIVES & JUSTIFYS PRIMITIVES Sidebar: where does this come from? Two lines: (1) understanding intentional action - all apes (to some degree) => 9-12 mos. - intentions and attention (rational choice - apes?) (2) sharing psychological states (id w/other) - only humans => from birth - dyadic protoconversations from early infancy 9-12 months: merging of two lines: shared goals, intentions, attention Learning origins of pointing unknown - ritualization vs imitation: conventionalization? origins of char. gestures and baby signs unknown - creative iconic/metonymic vs. imitation.

3.3. Conclusion
Early gestures have full structure of co-op. comm. [before language] based on mental states: intentions & attention & knowledge (not beliefs) perspective & absent referents based on shared intentionalty: joint intentions & attention & knowledge motives of helping & sharing (incl. informing) Concealed authorship, deception, sarcasm/irony => later (3-4 years) Learning & acquisition of pointing & other gestures?.

Some References
Behne, T., Carpenter, M., & Tomasello, M. (2005a). One-year-olds comprehend the communicative intentions behind gestures in a hiding game. Developmental Science, 8, 492 - 499. Behne, T., Carpenter, M., Call, J., Tomasello, M. (2005b). Unwilling versus unable? Infants' understanding of intentional action. Developmental Psychology, 41, 328-37. Liszkowski, U., Carpenter, M., Henning, A., Striano, T., & Tomaselo, M. (2004). 12-month-olds point to share attention and interest. Developmental Science, 7, 297-307. Liszkowski, U., Carpenter, M., Striano, T., & Tomasello, M. (2006). 12- and 18-month-olds point to provide information for others. J. of Cognition and Development, 7, 173 - 187. Liszkowski, U., Carpenter, M., & Tomasello, M. (submitted a). Reference and altitude in infant pointing. Liszkowski, U., Carpenter, M., & Tomasello, M. (submitted b). Pointing out new news, old news, and absent referents at 12 Months. Moll, H., & Tomasello, M. (in press). How 14- and 18- month-olds know what others have experienced. Developmental Psychology. Moll, H., Koring, C., Carpenter, M., & Tomasello, M. (in press). Infants determine others' focus of attention by pragmatics and exclusion. J. of Cognition & Development. Rakoczy, H., Warneken, F., & Tomasello, M. (submitted). The sources of normativity: Young children’s awareness of the normative structure of games. Tomasello, M. & Haberl, K. (2003). Understanding attention: 12- and 18-month-olds know what's new for other persons. Developmental Psychology, 39, 906-912. Tomasello, M. & Rakoczy, H. (2003). What makes human cognition unique? From individual to shared to collective intentionality. Mind and Language, 18, 121-47. Tomasello, M., Striano, T., & Rochat, P. (1999). Do young children use objects as symbols? British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 17, 563-584. Warneken, F. & Tomasello, M. (2006). Altruistic helping in human infants and young chimpanzees. Science, 31 ,1301 - 1303. Warneken, F., Chen. F., & Tomasello, M. (in press). Cooperative activities in young children and chimpanzees. Child Development.