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Title
Abstract
The Emergence of Shared Attention: Data and Theory
Overview; Survey of Ecological Factors
Age-Related Changes in Attention-Sharing
Development of Related Capacities
Summary
References
All Topics
Languages and Linguistics
Syntax

Chapter 16: Origins of shared attention in human infants

Profile image of Gedeon DeákGedeon Deák

Abstract

Homo sapiens possess a unique behavioural system for social action and response, namely, language. Language permits action at a distance by transmitting messages with specifi c meanings from one individual's mind to that of another. It is a peculiar system as compared with other structures in the environment, because the information in language that specifi es meaning is rather abstract and arbitrary. Despite—or perhaps due to—these characteristics, language is the prime medium for 'cultural ratcheting' (Tomasello, 1999) among humans. In cultural ratcheting, behavioural innovations (e.g. tools) spread through a group and are sustained and elaborated upon across generations. For a group to maintain a system of linguistic behaviours, each individual must be able to learn and adapt to the prevailing information structure. Typically, most of the structure of language is learned within a few years of birth, when the human infants are dependent on and in near-constant conta...

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