The DOI matches its Crossref record; 95 of the 96 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
A New Look at Infant Pointing
Open accessAbstract
The current article proposes a new theory of infant pointing involving multiple layers of intentionality and shared intentionality. In the context of this theory, evidence is presented for a rich interpretation of prelinguistic communication, that is, one that posits that when 12-month-old infants point for an adult they are in some sense trying to influence her mental states. Moreover, evidence is also presented for a deeply social view in which infant pointing is best understood—on many levels and in many ways—as depending on uniquely human skills and motivations for cooperation and shared intentionality (e.g., joint intentions and attention with others). Children's early linguistic skills are built on this already existing platform of prelinguistic communication.
Overview
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“Studies in developmental psychology demonstrate that infants and adults alike point to share information about their environment [3].”
From RoboPoint: A Vision-Language Model for Spatial Affordance Prediction for Robotics (2024) · cites this paper as [3]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Citations
Cites
Grice, H. P. (1975) · Speech Acts · doi:10.1163/9789004368811_003 · Cited by 23,221
Ambrose, A., Wittgenstein, L., & Anscombe, G. E. M. (1954) · Philosophy and Phenomenological Research · doi:10.2307/2103745 · Cited by 12,289
The origins of intelligence in children.
Piaget, J. (1952) · doi:10.1037/11494-000 · Cited by 10,687
A Handbook of Child Psychology
(1932) · Nature · doi:10.1038/130331a0 · Cited by 10,133
Relevance: Communication and Cognition
Sperber, D., & Wilson, D. (1986) · Cited by 6,708
Clark, H. H. (1996) · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511620539 · Cited by 5,123
Hand and mind: what gestures reveal about thought
(1993) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.30-2492 · Cited by 5,089
Understanding and sharing intentions: The origins of cultural cognition
Tomasello, M., Carpenter, M., Call, J., Behne, T., & Moll, H. (2005) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · doi:10.1017/s0140525x05000129 · Cited by 4,882
Self-citationON THE CONSTRUCTION OF A SOCIAL REALITY
(2018) · University of Iowa Press eBooks · doi:10.2307/j.ctt20ks0rb.46 · Cited by 4,792
The construction of social reality
(1995) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.33-0869 · Cited by 4,713
Research works printed but not linked: 9
- Bruner, 1983, Child's talk
- Call, 2005, Joint attention, 45
- Clark, 1981, Elements of discourse understanding, 101
- Liszkowski, 2007, Twelve-month-olds provide information to help an adult find what she is looking for
- Masataka, 2003, Pointing: Where language, culture, and cognition meet, 69
- Mundy, 2006, Developmental psychopathology (Vol. 1, 2nd ed.). Theory and methods, 79
- Schwier, 2006, Rational imitation in 12-month-old infants, Infancy
- Tomasello, 2006, Roots of human sociality: Culture, cognition, and interaction, 506
- Werner, 1963, Symbol formation: An organismic developmental approach to language and the expression of thought
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Items 901–1,000 of 1,000
Noveck, I. A. (2018) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781316027073.012
Noveck, I. A. (2018) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781316027073.002
Noveck, I. A. (2018) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781316027073.009
Noveck, I. A. (2018) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781316027073.016
Pragmatic Abilities among Those with Autism
Noveck, I. A. (2018) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781316027073.013
Noveck, I. A. (2018) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781316027073.004
Grammatical or Semantic Approaches to Scalar Implicatures
Noveck, I. A. (2018) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781316027073.008
Speaking Falsely and Getting Away with It
Noveck, I. A. (2018) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781316027073.011
How Logical Terms Can Be Enriched
Noveck, I. A. (2018) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781316027073.007
Noveck, I. A. (2018) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781316027073.010
A Consideration of Experimental Techniques
Noveck, I. A. (2018) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781316027073.005
Noveck, I. A. (2018) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781316027073.006
Opinionated Conclusions and Considerations for the Future
Noveck, I. A. (2018) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781316027073.015
Vakili, P. (2022) · ISU Red - Research and eData (Illinois State University) · doi:10.30707/etd2022.20221020070315049859.999962 · Cited by 1
Rowe, D. W. (2022) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-818630-5.07030-5
Early language development: major milestones and individual differences
Tulloch, M. K., & Hoff, E. (2022) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-818630-5.14063-1 · Cited by 1
Bagger or Bär? The influence of individual interests on early word learning
Ackermann, L. (2023) · eDiss (Georg-August-Universität Göttingen) · doi:10.53846/goediss-9641
The Phenomenon of Human Communication
Turbanti, G. (2022) · Palgrave philosophy today · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-12463-1_1
Correlates of Infant Pointing Frequency in the First YearPreprint
Ger, E., Küntay, A. C., Ertaş, S., Koşkulu‐Sancar, S., & Liszkowski, U. (2023) · doi:10.31234/osf.io/bvze3
Self-citationWarum die Vergleichende Psychologie auf den Hund gekommen ist
Bräuer, J., & Bender, Y. (2023) · Zeitschrift für Entwicklungspsychologie und Pädagogische Psychologie · doi:10.1026/0049-8637/a000267
The origin of linguistic intuitions: Communicativeness, not grammaticalnessPreprint
Scott‐Phillips, T. (2023) · PsyArXiv (OSF Preprints) · doi:10.31234/osf.io/5yu8t
More Topics for Experimental Pragmatics
Noveck, I. A. (2018) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781316027073.014
(2023) · The MIT Press eBooks · doi:10.7551/mitpress/10400.003.0029
Phillips, E., Goupil, L., Whitehorn, M., et al. (2023) · eLife · doi:10.7554/elife.88775.1.sa0
Phillips, E., Goupil, L., Whitehorn, M., Bruce-Gardyne, E., Csolsim, F. A., Kaur, N., Greenwood, E., Haresign, I. M., & Wass, S. V. (2023) · eLife · doi:10.7554/elife.88775
Phillips, E., Goupil, L., Whitehorn, M., et al. (2023) · eLife · doi:10.7554/elife.88775.1.sa1
Old Problems in the Light of New Discoveries
Ivić, I. D. (2024) · Social interaction in learning and development · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-49757-5_5 · Cited by 1
Hacia una Antropología de la Historia Universal
Persch, M. A. (2024) · Antítesis - Revista iberoamericana de estudios hegelianos · doi:10.15366/antitesis2023.2.007
Phillips, E., Goupil, L., Whitehorn, M., Bruce-Gardyne, E., Csolsim, F. A., Kaur, N., Greenwood, E., Haresign, I. M., & Wass, S. V. (2024) · eLife · doi:10.7554/elife.88775.2
The function of the pointing gesture-speech combination in children’s story retelling
Minto-García, A., Canto, E. A. A., Arias‐Trejo, N., & Jasso, T. (2024) · Revista Española de Lingüística Aplicada/Spanish Journal of Applied Linguistics · doi:10.1075/resla.22045.min
Higgins, E. T. (2019) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190948054.002.0003
Gesture and Bilingualism: evidence from Polish-English preschoolers.
Karkowska, K., & Boruta-Żywiczyńska, M. (2024) · Theoria et Historia Scientiarum · doi:10.12775/ths.2023.002
Is core knowledge a natural subdivision of infant cognition?
Kaicher, C. M., Conti, J., Dedhe, A. M., Aulet, L. S., & Cantlon, J. F. (2024) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · doi:10.1017/s0140525x23003229
Peer interactions in 4/6-month-old infants: From motor development to multimodal communication
Cochet, H., Chéné, F., & Guidetti, M. (2024) · Learning Culture and Social Interaction · doi:10.1016/j.lcsi.2024.100869
Tomasello, M., & Call, J. (2024) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780198910626.003.0007
Self-citationTomasello, M., & Call, J. (2024) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780198910626.003.0002
Self-citationSocial Strategies and Communication
Tomasello, M., & Call, J. (2024) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780198910626.003.0003
Self-citationCall, J., & Tomasello, M. (2024) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780198910626.002.0003
Self-citationCall, J., & Tomasello, M. (2024) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780198910626.002.0004
Self-citationTheory of Mind and Metacognition
Tomasello, M., & Call, J. (2024) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780198910626.003.0005
Self-citationIntroduction to Social Cognition
Call, J., & Tomasello, M. (2024) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780198910626.002.0006
Self-citationTeo, J. W. L. (2024) · DR-NTU (Nanyang Technological University) · doi:10.32657/10356/181789
Malle, B., & Robbins, P. (2025) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108894357.015
Babarczy, A., & Balazs, A. (2025) · Language Learning and Development · doi:10.1080/15475441.2025.2467686 · Cited by 1
(2017) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199697960.002.0010
Huang, Y. (2017) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199697960.002.0007
List of Symbols and Abbreviations
(2017) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199697960.002.0008
(2017) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199697960.002.0005
Borgoni, C. (2025) · SpringerBriefs in philosophy · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-83999-3_2
Semantic priming supports infants’ ability to learn names of unseen objects
Luchkina, E., & Waxman, S. R. (2025) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0321775
Geurts, B., & Moore, R. (2025) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/9780191967566.002.0008
Intentions in human and non-human great ape communication
Moore, R. (2025) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/9780191967566.003.0001
Geurts, B., & Moore, R. (2025) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/9780191967566.002.0006
Geurts, B., & Moore, R. (2025) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/9780191967566.002.0007
Geurts, B., & Moore, R. (2025) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/9780191967566.002.0005
Population-level models of evolutionary pragmatics
Mühlenbernd, R., & Baumann, A. (2025) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/9780191967566.003.0009
Graham, K. E., & Hobaiter, C. (2025) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/9780191967566.003.0006
Normative pragmatics and social structures: An evolutionary perspective
Geurts, B. (2025) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/9780191967566.003.0010
Cultural evolutionary pragmatics
Rubio‐Fernández, P. (2025) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/9780191967566.003.0007
Pragmatically intermediate protolanguage
Bar‐On, D. (2025) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/9780191967566.003.0003
(2015) · Linguistik aktuell · doi:10.1075/la.225.c6
(2015) · Linguistik aktuell · doi:10.1075/la.225.refs
(2015) · Linguistik aktuell · doi:10.1075/la.225.c1
(2015) · Linguistik aktuell · doi:10.1075/la.225.prelim
(2015) · Linguistik aktuell · doi:10.1075/la.225.index
(2015) · Linguistik aktuell · doi:10.1075/la.225.toc
The Association Between Pointing and Walking in Infants: A Longitudinal Observational Study
Toyama, N. (2025) · Infancy · doi:10.1111/infa.70037
Nitzan, T., Bachrach, M. N., Ilan, M., Faroy, M., Waissengreen, D., Michaelovski, A., Zagdon, D., Sadaka, Y., Yosef, O. B., Zachor, D. A., et al. (2026) · JCPP Advances · doi:10.1002/jcv2.70140 · Cited by 1
Understanding Freehand Cursorless Pointing Variability and Its Impact on Selection Performance
Whiffing, J., Langlotz, T., Lutteroth, C., Sharma, A., & Clarke, C. (2025) · ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction · doi:10.1145/3770583
Charting the development of pointing
Karnovska, S., Kammermeier, M., & Paulus, M. (2024) · Gesture · doi:10.1075/gest.25008.kar
Does pointing predict bilingual children’s vocabulary?
Nicoladis, E., Morin, A. J. S., & Poulin‐Dubois, D. (2025) · Language Acquisition · doi:10.1080/10489223.2025.2534392 · Cited by 1
How Preschoolers Learn to Write
Rowe, D. W. (2021) · Emerald Group Publishing Limited eBooks · doi:10.1108/978-1-64802-423-820251004
Co-constructing layers of meaning: Early triadic interactions at the threshold of intentionality
Moreno-Núñez, A. (2025) · New Ideas in Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.newideapsych.2025.101234
Cross‐Contextual Variability in Children's Early Understanding of Visual Media
Zhu, R., Nduku, T., Zhu, L. Z., Fan, J. E., & Frank, M. C. (2025) · Topics in Cognitive Science · doi:10.1111/tops.70034
Theory of Mind (ToM) in Early Education
Kristen, S., & Sodian, B. (2013) · Emerald Group Publishing Limited eBooks · doi:10.1108/978-1-62396-513-620251019
Heikamp, T. (2014) · KOPS (University of Konstanz)
Sepulveda, D. J. (2015) · FIU - Digital Commons (Florida International University) · doi:10.25148/etd.fi15032149
Kaminski, J. (2025) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-323-95504-1.01129-7
Jarmołowicz-Nowikow, E., & Laskowski, W. (2025) · Studies in Logic Grammar and Rhetoric · doi:10.2478/slgr-2025-0020
Gestures in Language Acquisition: Early Gesture Development
Singleton, N. C. (2026) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-323-95504-1.01341-7
Deference to First-Person Authority and Early Communicative Interactions
Borgoni, C. (2026) · Review of Philosophy and Psychology · doi:10.1007/s13164-025-00795-8
Bazhydai, M., Koşkulu‐Sancar, S., Karadağ, D., & Şen, H. H. (2026) · OSF Preprints (OSF Preprints)
Is joint attention an essentially communicative relation?
Laing, J. (2026) · Synthese · doi:10.1007/s11229-026-05468-2
Proprioception and cognitive polarization in autism: the bipolar tensile model
Mp, S. (2026) · Consortium Psychiatricum · doi:10.17816/cp15678
Azaoui, B. (2025) · De Gruyter eBooks · doi:10.1515/9783111568645-010
The point of reaching: Deceptive pointing is harder to produce and easier to distrustPreprint
Savill, C., Lee, K., Hu, X., Köymen, B., & Jensen, K. (2026) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.6386979
Figueroa, M., & Morgan, G. (2026) · Child Development · doi:10.1093/chidev/aacag017
Embodied and situated language processing: Learning
Repetto, C., & Scerrati, E. (2026) · The Psychology of learning and motivation/The psychology of learning and motivation · doi:10.1016/bs.plm.2026.02.005
Forestier, S. (2019) · theses.fr (ABES) · doi:10.70675/abd58967z79d0z4df2zbe94z307821e9b628 · Cited by 3
Danset-Alexandre, C. (2019) · theses.fr (ABES) · doi:10.70675/520525c0z63aaz4b1ez930cz9bda2d886a0f
Belhassein, K. (2021) · theses.fr (ABES) · doi:10.70675/f4d36796z2b61z4cd3zbf91zeda88e221a76
Söz Öncesi Milieu Öğretimine Genel Bir Bakış: Kuramsal Temeller, Stratejiler ve Bulgular
Töret, Z., & Şafak, P. (2026) · Eurasian journal of teacher education. · doi:10.69918/ejte.1777122
AgentHands: Generating Interactive Hand Gestures for Spatially Grounded Agent Conversations in XR
Liu, Z., Li, D., Zhou, Z., Kim, D., Du, R., & Qian, X. (2026) · CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/3772318.3790938 · Cited by 1
Varghese, E. B., Al‐Thani, D., & Qaraqe, M. (2026) · IEEE International Conference on Acoustics Speech and Signal Processing · doi:10.1109/icassp55912.2026.11462949
Metadata
- Authors
- Tomasello, M., Carpenter, M., & Liszkowski, U.
- Affiliations
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Tomasello, Michael
- Venue
- Child Development
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2007-05-01
- Volume
- 78
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 705-722
- ISSN
- 0009-3920 (ISSN-L)
- 1467-8624
- OpenAlex
- W2165225874
- Cited by
- 1,039
- References
- 96
- Citations by year
- 2026: 52 · 2025: 44 · 2024: 42 · 2023: 39 · 2022: 39 · 2021: 65 · 2020: 84 · 2019: 63 · 2018: 65 · 2017: 55 · 2016: 60 · 2015: 77 · 2014: 62 · 2013: 57 · 2012: 45
- FWCI
- 80.72
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- hdl.handle.net
- Licence
- Locations
- Child Development (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Max Planck Digital Library (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (submittedVersion)
- MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion)
- MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Language Development and Disorders
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Action Observation and Synchronization
- Keywords
- infant pointing, shared intentionality, prelinguistic communication, social cognition, cooperation, joint attention, language acquisition, theory of mind, 12-month-old infants
- MeSH terms
- Attention, Child Development, Psychology, Child, Gestures, Humans, Infant, Motivation, Nonverbal Communication, Psychological Theory, Infant Behavior, Intention
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
