An attention-based approach to symbol acquisition

We developed a semiotico-psychological model of symbol acquisition which is based on attentional interaction with others. Recent studies on developmental disorders of communication abilities suggest that “attention-sharing” plays an indispensable role in infants´ acquisition of symbols and other social conventions. Attention-sharing is the activity of paying one´s attention to someone else´s attentional target. We hypothesize that (1) attention-sharing enables an infant to observe caregivers´ behavior, i.e. stimuli (what they are perceiving from the target) and responses (what they are doing in response to the stimuli), and that (2) observation of adults´ behavior, or indirect experience, leads to “behavior-sharing”, in which the infant and the adults mutually interpret the function of their shared behavior. The shared behavior (signifiant) and shared interpretation (signifie) function as a symbol (signe) that is socially shared in the community