Resumen de Do Infants Need Social Cognition to Act Socially? An Alternative Look at Infant Pointing

Barbara D'Entremont, Elizabeth Seamans

• Tomasello, Carpenter, and Liszkowski (2007) present a comprehensive review of the infant pointing literature. They conclude that infant pointing demonstrates communicative intent from its onset, at about 1 year of age. In this commentary, it is noted that for infants to understand communicative intent, they must have a concept of self and others as intentional agents. Evidence is reviewed to argue that this is not possible until 18–24 months of age. A leaner explanation of how infants might initially succeed in pointing tasks without understanding communicative intent is considered.