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.