Understanding the self in relation to others in nonverbal communication of one’s reasoning

Abstract

Using our own experience to understand the experience of our partners is crucial in collaborative problem-solving. In this preregistered online study, we found that UK-based 5-year-olds and, less reliably, 3-year-olds (N = 80, 38 girls), communicated their reasoning about evidence through point-to-self gestures, because pointing to evidence on screen would not be comprehensible to their partner in an online setting. For instance, to help their partner identify the character who took some jam, they pointed at hypothetical jam on their own cheek to direct their partner’s attention to the jam on a character’s cheek on screen. Thus, through these point-to-self gestures, young children displayed an understanding of “the self” in relation to others, when communicating their reasoning nonverbally.