What are the implicationsof pointing forunderstanding humancognitive development?

What are the implicationsof pointing forunderstanding humancognitive development?

1. What is pointing

   • Protoimperative
     • pointing to request
     • Cognitive implication
       • Means end reasoning
   • protodeclarative
     • pointing to comment
     • cognitive implication
       • lean
         • expectation that social partner will exhibit positive emotion- means end reasoning
       • rich
         • ability to represent others as beings with attentional foci with second order attentional thought - Theory of Mind

2. Theories of Pointing

   • Nativist
     • believes that pointing is innate and uniquely human
     • butterworth
     • our hands biomechanically made for pointing with our fingers
     • belief that gestures were a precursor to linguistic reference
       • suggesting that our incredible language related cognitive abilities developed from our evolutionary adaptations of pointing
   • Cognitive/Representational
     • baron-cohen -SAM (shared attention module)
       • share attention using gaze monitoring and pointing
       • BUT not very holistic as treats the pointing as software
     • rich
       • Tomasello - belief that protodeclaratives rely on the understanding of others as intentional agents with their own agenda
     • lean
       • Moore & Corkum
         • point leads to adult head turn and a subsequent response
       • Lizowski and Joint attention
         • much more pointing when no JA until reach desired response
           • therefore understand attention of others at 12mos
   • Social Learning