The findings, published in the journal Cognition, contradict previousstudies which suggested that children need verbal skills before they canunderstand what other people do and do not know.
The study's author, Ulf Liszkowski from the Max Planck Institute inGermany, said, 'Understanding others' needs and representations is notdependent on having language, but a foundation for interacting andacquiring language.'
In a scripted interaction-based experiment, 29 babies were observed tosee how they communicate before they acquire language.
Researchers watched the infants as adults dropped two objects from atable, including an ink stamp, hole puncher, child-safety scissors, aglue stick and staple remover. The adult saw one object fall butpretended not to know the location of the other.
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