The link between infant attention to goal‐directed action and later theory of mind abilities

TLDR

Infants can interpret actions as goal‑directed within their first year, a skill considered essential for attributing mental states and potentially predictive of later theory‑of‑mind development. The study examined whether 6‑month‑old infants’ attention to goal‑directed action predicts their 4‑year‑old theory‑of‑mind performance. Researchers used a modified Woodward paradigm to assess 6‑month‑old action understanding and later tested the same children on a German version of the Wellman‑Liu ToM scale at age 4. A significant correlation was found between infants’ reduced attention to goal‑directed action and their ability to solve a false‑belief task at age 4, independent of language ability, indicating a link between early action attention and later ToM.

Abstract

Various studies have shown that infants in their first year of life are able to interpret human actions as goal-directed. It is argued that this understanding is a precondition for understanding intentional actions and attributing mental states. Moreover, some authors claim that this early action understanding is a precursor of later Theory of Mind (ToM) development. To test this, we related 6-month-olds' performance in an action interpretation task to their performance in ToM tasks at the age of 4 years. Action understanding was assessed using a modified version of the Woodward-paradigm (Woodward, 1999). At the age of 4 years, the same children were tested with the German version of the ToM scale developed by Wellman and Liu (2004). Results revealed a correlation between infants' decrement of attention to goal-directed action and their ability to solve a false belief task at the age of 4 years with no modulation by language abilities. Our results indicate a link between infant attention to goal-directed action and later theory of mind abilities.