YOUNG INFANTS SENSITIVITY TO MOVEMENT INFORMATION SPECIFYING SOCIAL CAUSALITY

Adults and 3- to 6-month-old infants were tested for their visual pref erence for two different dynamic displays presented simultaneously on two side-by-side computer monitors. Each display consisted of a pair o f colored discs moving either independently (the independent display) or in systematic interaction (the ''chase'' display), never actually c ontacting one another. Except for the relative spatio-temporal depende nce of the discs' movements, all dynamic parameters on the two display s were controlled and maintained equal. Analysis of looking behavior s howed that adults as well as infants looked differentially at the disp lays. Patterns of preference depended on age. For the infants who comp leted the experiment, there was a significant transition from more loo king at the chase to more looking at the independent display as a func tion of age. Adults as well as the older, attentive infants, showed en hanced visual attention to the independent display. These results prov ide first evidence of young infants' sensitivity to movement informati on specifying social causality for adult observers.