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Questioning the nature and origins of the “social agent” concept

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 June 2024

Denis Tatone Open the ORCID record for Denis Tatone [Opens in a new window]  and
Barbara Pomiechowska
Denis Tatone*
Affiliation:
Department of Cognitive Science, Central European University, Vienna, Austria [email protected]; https://denistatone.wixsite.com/my-site
Barbara Pomiechowska
Affiliation:
Center for Developmental Science, Centre for Human Brain Health, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK [email protected]; https://bpomie.github.io/
*
*Corresponding author.
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Abstract

Spelke posits that the concept of “social agent,” who performs object-directed actions to fulfill social goals, is the first noncore concept that infants acquire as they begin to learn their native language. We question this proposal on empirical grounds and theoretical grounds, and propose instead that the representation of object-mediated interactions may be supported by a dedicated prelinguistic mechanism.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 47 , 2024 , e142
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press

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