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ERIC Number: EJ1049932
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2013-Jul
Pages: 8
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0012-1649
EISSN: N/A
Preverbal Infants Infer Intentional Agents from the Perception of Regularity
Ma, Lili; Xu, Fei
Developmental Psychology, v49 n7 p1330-1337 Jul 2013
Human adults have a strong bias to invoke intentional agents in their intuitive explanations of ordered wholes or regular compositions in the world. Less is known about the ontogenetic origin of this bias. In 4 experiments, we found that 9-to 10-month-old infants expected a human hand, but not a mechanical tool with similar affordances, to be the primary cause of nonrandom sampling events that resulted in regular color patterns in visual displays. Infants did not have such expectations when the sampling appeared random with no regular compositions in the outcome. These findings provide the first evidence that by about 9 months of age, infants infer the presence of an intentional agent from the perception of regularity.
American Psychological Association. Journals Department, 750 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20002. Tel: 800-374-2721; Tel: 202-336-5510; Fax: 202-336-5502; e-mail: order@apa.org; Web site: http://www.apa.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Canada (Vancouver)
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A