Publications [#351812] of Michael Tomasello

Journal Articles

1. Gräfenhain, M; Behne, T; Carpenter, M; Tomasello, M (2009). One-year-olds' understanding of nonverbal gestures directed to a third person. Cognitive Development, 24(1), 23-33. [doi]
   (last updated on 2026/02/05)

   Abstract:
   We investigated whether infants comprehend others' nonverbal communicative intentions directed to a third person, in an 'overhearing' context. An experimenter addressed an assistant and indicated a hidden toy's location by either gazing ostensively or pointing to the location for her. In a matched control condition, the experimenter performed similar behaviors (absent-minded gazing and extended index finger) but did not communicate ostensively with the assistant. Infants could then search for the toy. Eighteen-month-old infants were skillful in using both communicative cues to find the hidden object, whereas 14-month-olds performed above chance only with the pointing cue. Neither age group performed above chance in the control condition. This study thus shows that by 14-18 months of age, infants are beginning to monitor and comprehend some aspects of third party interactions. © 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.