FORM AND FUNCTION IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF POINTING AND REACHING GESTURES

Twelve 4-month-olds, twelve 8-month-olds, and twelve 12-month-olds wer e videorecorded at home in face-to-face interactions with their mother s and in structured situations designed to elicit pointing and reachin g gestures. Pre-pointing (index finger extension) occurred in all age groups but was not mapped onto indicative situations; it was elicited most by arousing situations in 4-month-olds. Its form showed continuit y across age groups in that pre-points were not bimanual at any age, b ut there was also discontinuity in form in that pre-points by 12 month s were prolonged rather than brief and were predominantly fight-handed . Undirected pre-reaching was also more frequent in arousing situation s and dropped out after 4 months. Poking, pointing in a book, and poin ting to an object did not occur in the majority of infants until 12 mo nths. Despite shared components between early movements and mature poi nting, changes in both form and function cast doubt on interpretations of early finger extension as ''pointing.''