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Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
Different methodologies applied in human and non-human
primate studies limit the comparisons that can be made.
The early communicative gestures of 10 children between
7 and 12 months were analysed using a descriptive
approach usually found in non-human primate studies.
Silent-visual gestures were the most used, followed by contact
and audible gestures. The use of the different modalities
of gestures did not differ with the infants' gender or
age, unlike findings from studies on great apes. However,
signalers chose different gestural sensory modalities
according to the attentional state of the audience, similarly
to other great apes: more silent-visual gestures were used
when the visual attention of the recipient is present. Thus,
intentionality in gestural communication was not only
detected through behavioural cues but also supported by
the use of different strategies according to the attentional
state of the recipient. Importantly, this study suggests that
human infants consider the attentional state of their
partners during communication earlier in ontogeny than
previously thought.
Description
Keywords
Attentional state of the audience Gestures Human infants Nonhuman primates Sensory modalities
Citation
Rodrigues, E. D., Marôco, J., & Frota, S. (2021). Communicative gestures in 7–12‐month infants: A phylogenetic comparative approach. Infant & Child Development, 30(5), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1002/icd.2262
Publisher
John Wiley and Sons Ltd