Summary: When Infants Take Mothers' Advice: 18-Month-Olds Integrate Perceptual
and Social Information to Guide Motor Action
Catherine S. Tamis-LeMonda, Karen E. Adolph,
Sharon A. Lobo, Lana B. Karasik, and
Shaziela Ishak
New York University
Katherine A. Dimitropoulou
Long Island University
The social cognition and perception­action 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. Bor-
rowing 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

Source: Adolph, Karen - Center for Neural Science & Department of Psychology, New York University

Collections: Biology and Medicine