The Importance of Pointing

18 month old and three year old children tended to choose the red cup in the picture where the pointing man is looking at that cup. This suggests that they perceived the picture where he was looking at the red cup as unambiguous. The researchers found a similar pattern when looking at how people angled their wrists when pointing. Both children and adults tended to angle their wrists in a way that was more consistent with reaching to touch the object rather than making an arrow shape directed at it.