Intentional Communication
1. Pre-Intentional vs. Intentional Communication
Pre-Intentional Communication: Expressive actions such as crying, laughing, or babbling without a specific topic.
Intentional Communication: Denotative communication that is "about something" (e.g., words, pointing, gestures like reaching arms up to be picked up).
2. Communication Development in the First Year
Vocal Communication:
Non-speech vocalizations: Cries, laughter, squeals.
Speech-like vocalizations: Babbling and first words.
Phonemic Discriminations: The ability to perceive and differentiate speech sounds.
Manual Gestures: Intentional gestures include pointing, begging, or requesting to be picked up.
3. Development of Intentional Communication Milestones (Western Samples)
0-2 months: Shared alertness through reflexive behaviour.
2-6 months: Interpersonal engagement (primary intersubjectivity).
6-9 months: Joint object involvement, known as the Epoch of Games.
9-10 months: Understanding of pointing for nearby objects.
11-13 months: Productive pointing develops.
12 months: First words typically emerge.
14-15 months: Productive pointing with visual checking of companions. Children comprehend pointing at distant objects.
4. Adamson & Bakeman (1991)
Describes the progression of communication between infants and mothers:
0-2 months: Mother and infant are closely linked without involving objects.
2-6 months: Focus shifts to a dyadic interaction between the infant and the mother.
6+ months: Communication expands to include joint object involvement.
5. Experimental Setup by Leavens & Todd (Unpublished)
Experiment examining joint attention between mothers and infants using two remotely controlled dolls.
The infant is seated in a high chair next to the mother, with cameras observing the child’s gaze and attention.
6. Pointing to Request (Protoimperative)
Goal: To retrieve an object (e.g., food or toy).
Means: The infant uses vocal and visual cues (e.g., pointing) to communicate, adjusting based on the caregiver’s attentional status.
Reinforcer: The delivery of the desired item. The infant persists if the caregiver is unresponsive, expecting help based on past interactions.
7. Pointing to Comment (Protodeclarative)
Goal: To direct the caregiver’s attention to an object or event, often seeking an emotional response.
Lean Interpretation: The goal is to elicit a positive emotional response (e.g., a smile) from the caregiver.
Rich Interpretation: The goal is to achieve joint attention to a distant object, signalling an understanding of the caregiver’s attentional focus.
8. Cognitive Prerequisites of Protoimperative Pointing
A child points at an object and looks between the object and the caregiver, showing an understanding of how to manipulate the caregiver to retrieve the desired item.
9. Protodeclaratives: Lean vs. Rich Interpretation
Lean Interpretation: Pointing at an event to receive emotional feedback from the caregiver, with the event being a means to an end.
Rich Interpretation: The child understands that others have their own attentional focus and uses pointing to influence the caregiver’s attention. This is viewed as an early form of theory of mind.
10. Three Theoretical Perspectives on Pointing
1. Nativist (Maturational Motivational):
o Pointing is biologically based and species-specific to humans, seen as an evolutionary precursor to language.
o Darwin (1872): Opposite postures signal opposite emotions.
o Butterworth (2001): Pointing with the index finger is an antithesis to the pincer grip, while whole-hand pointing contrasts with the power grip.
2. Cognitive (Computational Representational):
o Pointing involves understanding others as intentional agents with independent attentional perspectives.
o Liszkowski et al. (2004): 12-month-old infants understand attention and can share interest with others.
3. Social Learning (Operant):
o Pointing behaviours are learned through reinforcement, with infants recognizing that their gestures lead to desired responses from caregivers.
11. Differences in Hand Anatomy (Human vs. Chimpanzee)
Human hands are biomechanically poised for index finger extension, facilitating pointing.
Differences in thumb size and finger length in chimpanzees lead to different grasping and pointing behaviours.
12. Critique of Nativist Perspective
Both institutionalized chimpanzees and humans may point with their whole hands.
Language-trained chimpanzees and home-reared chimps use index-finger pointing more frequently, showing that pointing behaviours can be influenced by learning and environment.
13. Liszkowski et al. (2004) Experiment on Joint Attention
Infants pointed more when their attempts at joint attention were ignored or met with neutral reactions, but pointed less when they received joint attention and positive emotional responses.
This study suggests that 12-month-old infants understand attention and social perspectives.
14. Moore & Corkum (1994) Leaner Interpretation
Suggests that infants may learn through operant conditioning that pointing leads to both head turns and positive emotional responses from adults. This challenges Liszkowski’s findings, as learning models may explain the same behaviours.
15. Learning Perspective on Pointing
Protodeclarative pointing can be explained through the manipulation of caregiver behaviour. Infants learn that their gestures result in the delivery of objects or the elicitation of emotional engagement from caregivers, suggesting no fundamental difference in the psychological processes behind protoimperative and protodeclarative pointing.
16. Positive Emotion in Joint Attention
Joint attention between infants and caregivers is linked with positive emotional exchanges.
Studies show that infants express more positive emotion during joint attention than during object requests, and caregivers synchronize smiles with pointing gestures