抄録
We observed 3 instances of iconic gestures and 1 instance of pointing at an absent entity by a one-year-old infant in daily-life situations. The participant of the study, a female infant, made three types of iconic gestures. First, she indicated a “fan” by rotating the extended index finger of her right hand. Second, she indicated “food” by inserting her index finger of her right hand into her mouth and then removing it. Third, she indicated “let's eat” by joining her palms. Moreover, she was able to point at her absent mother after the mother had left the room. These observations suggest that one-year-old infants can use iconic gestures more flexibly than previously considered. Furthermore, infants can point at absent entities not only in experimental situations but also in daily-life situations. The participant of this study often associated her vocalization with pointing gestures. However, her iconic gestures did not tend to be associated with vocalization. This suggests that infants use pointing gestures and vocalization to indicate different aspects of things that are represented by their iconic gestures. As it is difficult to record infants' spontaneous gestures outside of an experimental setting, further research should be conducted by collecting data on infants' pointing and iconic gestures in daily-life situations.
