Is early differentiation of human behavior a precursor to the 1-year-old's understanding of intentional action? Comment on Legerstee, Barna, and DiAdamo (2000)

Bibliographic Data

ID17869265
AuthorsGyörgy Gergely (0000-0002-2094-4258, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, corresponding author)
Year2001
Volume37
Issue5
Pages579-582
Publication date2001-01-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueDevelopmental Psychology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0012-1649 • E-ISSN: 1939-0599
PublisherAmerican Psychological Association (APA) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1037//0012-1649.37.5.579
PMID11552754
OpenAlexW2086138790
LanguageEN
References cited5

In a recent issue of Developmental Psychology, M. Legerstee, J. Barna, and C. DiAdamo (2000) reported a study showing that 6-month-olds expect people to talk to persons rather than to inanimate objects and to manipulate inanimates rather than persons. They interpreted this ability as a "precursor" to later understanding of intentionality. The present article takes issue with the authors' 2 different levels of interpretation that contradict each other and raise problems in their own right. It is suggested that M. Legerstee et al.'s finding is most parsimoniously explained by associative learning and may not constitute a precursor to later understanding of intentionality in any well-defined sense of the term. The present article argues for the importance of differentiating between associative and inferential processes and reviews evidence that the understanding of goal-directed action around 9 months of age involves principle-based inferences.

Action (physics) · Associative learning · Associative property · Cognitive psychology · Cognitive science · Developmental psychology · Epistemology · Intentionality · Interpretation (philosophy) · Linguistics · Autism Spectrum Disorder Research · Behavioral and Psychological Studies · Child and Animal Learning Development · Psychology · Social Psychology

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