The Relationship Between Infant Holdout and Gives, and Pointing

Abstract

We provide an analysis of holdout and giving ( H o& G ) behaviours in prelinguistic infants and investigate their relationship with index finger pointing. The frequency of H o& G s at 10 and 11 months along with the length of the following social interaction correlated with index finger pointing at 12 months. We conclude that H o& G s are a precursor to index finger pointing and that this provides support for social‐pragmatic approaches to communicative development.