A COMPUTATIONAL MODEL OF THE EMERGENCE OF GAZE FOLLOWING

We present a computational model of the emergence of gaze following in infant caregiver interactions. Using the model we explore the plausibility of the hypothesis that gaze following is a skill that infants acquire because they learn that monitoring their caregiver’s direction of gaze allows them to predict where interesting objects or events in their environment are. In particular, we demonstrate that a specific basic set of mechanisms is sufficient for gaze following to emerge and we show how plausible alterations of model parameters motivated by findings on developmental disorders lead to impairments in the learning of gaze following.