The emergence of shared attention: Using robots to test developmental theories

Abstract

The capacity for shared attention is a cornerstone of human social intelligence. Recent accounts attribute the emergence of shared attention to multiple cognitive mechanisms. Current behavioral data support an alternative dynamic systems model, but many questions remain. To answer these questions and test alternative theories, robotic models will play a critical role. Robotic models reduce the scope of the modeling task, permit comparison of empirically supported theories, and encourage parsimonious models of complex behaviors. Current efforts to model the emergence of shared attention are described. 1.