Preverbal infants identify emotional reactions that are incongruent with goal outcomes |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Department of Developmental and Comparative Psychology, Germany;2. University of Bielefeld, Department of Animal Behaviour, Germany;3. University of St Andrews, School of Psychology and Neuroscience, UK;1. Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, University College London, London WC1N 3BG, UK;2. Department of Neurology, University of Magdeburg, 39120 Magdeburg, Germany;3. Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London WC1N 3AR, UK;1. Department of Psychology, Boston University, 64 Cummington Mall, Boston, MA 02215, United States;2. Department of Psychology, Boston College, 140 Commonwealth Ave., Chestnut Hill, MA 02467, United States;1. Department of Educational Sciences, Leipzig University, 04109 Leipzig, Germany;2. Department of Social and Education Sciences, University of Applied Sciences Potsdam, 14469 Potsdam, Germany;3. Leipzig Research Centre for Early Childhood Development, Leipzig University, 04109 Leipzig, Germany |
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| Abstract: | Identifying the goal of another agent’s action allows an observer to make inferences not only about the outcomes the agent will pursue in the future and the means to be deployed in a given context, but also about the emotional consequences of goal-related outcomes. While numerous studies have characterized the former abilities in infancy, expectations about emotions have gone relatively unexplored. Using a violation of expectation paradigm, we present infants with an agent who attains or fails to attain a demonstrated goal, and reacts with positive or negative affect. Across several studies, we find that infants’ attention to a given emotional display differs depending on whether that reaction is congruent with the preceding goal outcome. Specifically, infants look longer at a negative emotional display when it follows a completed goal compared to when it follows a failed goal. The present results suggest that infants’ goal representations support expectations not only about future actions but also about emotional reactions, and that infants in the first year of life can relate different emotional reactions to conditions that elicit them. |
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| Keywords: | Social cognition Cognitive development Goal inference Emotion Theory of mind |
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