Variation in social referencing behavior according to infants’ understanding of indirect emotional signals

This research focuses on how infants develop indirect information–based social referencing by examining their imitative behavior toward test objects. This exploration is based on infants’ understanding of another person’s emotional response and attentional state. Two experiments were conducted on 18- and 24-month-olds (N = 180) from South Korea. Experiment 1 showed that 18-month-olds frequently exhibited imitation under neutral response–visual attention and negative response–no visual attention conditions. While 24-month-olds also engaged in imitation under the neutral response–no visual attention condition, they showed little imitation under the negative response–no visual attention condition. Experiment 2 revealed that, different from 18-month-olds, 24-month-olds displayed more frequent imitative behavior toward test objects that did not produce sound than toward test objects that produced sound when the emoter’s visual attention was not directed at the infant. Additionally, under the same condition, 24-month-olds hesitated for less time before touching the test object and tended to touch the object for longer than the 18-month-olds. These findings can guide infant-oriented interventions related to indirect social learning; understanding another person’s attentional state is a key part of social referencing.