Research article summary (published 29 Apr 2008):

When infants take mothers' advice: 18-month-olds integrate perceptual and social information to guide motor action.

Full Abstract

The social cognition and perception-action literatures are largely separate, both conceptually and empirically. However, both areas of research emphasize infants' emerging abilities to use available information--social and perceptual information, respectively--for making decisions about action. Borrowing methods from both research traditions, this study examined whether 18-month-old infants incorporate both social and perceptual information in their motor decisions. The infants' task was to determine whether to walk down slopes of varying risk levels as their mothers encouraged or discouraged walking. First, a psychophysical procedure was used to determine slopes that were safe, borderline, and risky for individual infants. Next, during a series of test trials, infants received mothers' advice about whether to walk. Infants used social information selectively: They ignored encouraging advice to walk down risky slopes and discouraging advice to avoid safe slopes, but they deferred to mothers' advice at borderline slopes. Findings indicate that 18-month-old infants correctly weigh competing sources of information when making decisions about motor action and that they rely on social information only when perceptual information is inadequate or uncertain. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2008 APA, all rights reserved).

Author information

Author/s: Tamis-LeMonda, Catherine S (CS); Adolph, Karen E (KE); Lobo, Sharon A (SA); Karasik, Lana B (LB); Ishak, Shaziela (S); Dimitropoulou, Katherine A (KA);

Affiliation: Department of Applied Psychology, New York University, 239 Greene Street, New York, NY 10003, USA. catherine.tamis-lemonda(-atsign-)nyu.edu

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: Developmental psychology (Dev Psychol), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2008-May; vol 44 (issue 3) : pp 734-46

Dates: Created 2008/05/13; Completed 2008/08/11;

PMID: 18473640, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 2/18/2009, IMS Date: )

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Attention Awareness Child Psychology Culture Decision Making Exploratory Behavior Female Humans Infant Kinesthesis

Kinesthesis Male Mother-Child Relations Orientation Psychomotor Performance Psychophysics Reaction Time Reinforcement, Verbal Risk-Taking Walking - psychology

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