JOINT VISUAL-ATTENTION AND POINTING IN INFANCY - A LONGITUDINAL-STUDYOF COMPREHENSION

The aim of this study was to examine three questions about the infant capabilities of establishing joint visual attention (JVA) and of under standing pointing: when are infants able to look in the general direct ion indicated by their mother (Ability 1)? When are they able to look precisely at the indicated target (Ability 2)? Is there a fixed sequen ce in the acquisition of these abilities between JVA and pointing? Twe nty-four babies were seen longitudinally every three months between th e age of 6 and 18 months. They were submitted to two conditions in whi ch their mother either only gazed (JVA condition) or gazed and pointed (pointing condition) at four identical targets, some being close to t he mother and some at a greater distance. The results for JVA showed t hat Ability 1 was present at 12 months and Ability 2 at 15 months when the targets were close and at 18 months when they were away. The resu lts for pointing showed that both abilities were present at 15 months (only the distant targets being considered). Within-subjects analyses did not reveal a clear order of acquisition between JVA and pointing, but there was a correlation in Ability 2 between the two tasks. Implic ations for the existence of a single cognitive system underlying the c omprehension of the two referential messages are discussed.