Fact-checked by Grok 2 weeks ago

Pointing

Pointing is a fundamental gesture in human communication, typically involving the extension of an index finger or the entire hand to direct another person's attention toward a specific object, location, person, or idea in the shared environment.^[1] This action enables the sharing of focus and intentions without relying on spoken language, making it a universal and cross-culturally consistent behavior observed in diverse societies worldwide.^[2] Unlike other primates, which rarely use index finger pointing, humans employ it extensively from infancy, marking it as a uniquely human trait that bridges non-verbal signaling and linguistic development.^[2] In early childhood, pointing emerges as a critical developmental milestone, typically between 9 and 15 months of age, often preceding the onset of first words and serving as a precursor to language acquisition.^[1] Infants initially produce pointing gestures for proto-imperative purposes, such as requesting an adult to act as a tool to obtain an object (e.g., handing over a toy), and proto-declarative purposes, where the goal is to share interest or attention in something novel or noteworthy.^[1] By around 12 months, these gestures become more sophisticated, incorporating social intentions like informing, expressing surprise, or making requests, and demonstrating awareness of the listener's perspective, such as pointing more when an adult is visible and attentive.^[3] Research indicates that pointing originates from non-communicative actions like reaching or touching, evolving into a referential tool as children gain understanding of joint attention.^[4] Beyond infancy, pointing plays a pivotal role in adult communication, facilitating deictic reference in conversations, instructions, and social interactions by specifying referents in physical or abstract space.^[5] It is particularly vital in contexts requiring spatial orientation, such as navigation or describing events, where perceivers interpret the gesture's trajectory to locate distant targets in three-dimensional environments.^[5] Delays or atypical patterns in pointing development have been linked to conditions like autism spectrum disorders, underscoring its importance as an indicator of cognitive and social growth.^[1] Overall, pointing exemplifies how gestures underpin human cognition, social bonding, and the transition to symbolic language systems.

Fundamentals

Definition and Purpose

Pointing is a fundamental deictic gesture in human communication, characterized by the extension of a body part—most commonly the index finger or the open hand—to direct attention toward a specific referent in the physical environment, such as an object or location, or in abstract terms, such as an idea or temporal event.^[6]^[7] The term "deictic" originates from the Greek deiktikos, meaning "able to show" or "demonstrative," reflecting its role in explicitly demonstrating or indicating something within a shared context.^[8] This gesture is versatile, allowing individuals to bridge perceptual gaps between themselves and others by highlighting elements that might otherwise go unnoticed. The primary purpose of pointing is to facilitate joint attention, whereby two or more people coordinate their focus on the same external stimulus, thereby enhancing mutual understanding and social coordination.^[9]^[10] By directing gaze or action toward objects, locations, or concepts, pointing serves as a nonverbal tool for information sharing and collaborative engagement, underpinning many everyday interactions from casual conversations to instructional scenarios.^[11] It can briefly reference intents like requesting an item (imperative) or expressing shared interest (declarative), though these are elaborated in communicative contexts. Early systematic observations of pointing trace back to David Efron's 1941 study Gesture and Environment, which classified it as a universal deictic gesture observed across diverse cultural groups, including Eastern Jewish and Southern Italian immigrants in New York, independent of environmental influences.^[12]^[13] Efron's work highlighted pointing's spatio-temporal consistency, positioning it as a core element of gestural behavior that transcends specific cultural adaptations. Unlike waving, which functions as an emblematic greeting or farewell through oscillatory hand movements, or beckoning, which summons someone via palm-upward motions directed toward the self, pointing specifically identifies and isolates a distant or abstract referent to anchor discourse or attention.^[14]^[15] This distinction underscores pointing's referential precision in deictic communication.

Classification of Pointing Gestures

Pointing gestures are commonly classified based on their underlying intent, which distinguishes between imperative, declarative, and interrogative types. Imperative pointing occurs when an individual uses the gesture to request an object or action from another person, such as a child pointing at a toy to indicate a desire for it to be handed over. Declarative pointing, in contrast, serves to share attention or convey information about a referent, for instance, an adult pointing toward a bird to draw another's notice to it. Interrogative pointing involves directing attention to seek confirmation, clarification, or new information about a referent, as in pointing at an unfamiliar object while inquiring about its identity.^[16] Classifications also consider the form of the gesture, particularly differences between formal and informal variants that vary in hand shapes and bodily involvement. Formal pointing typically features an extended index finger with full arm extension and aligned gaze, emphasizing precision and prominence in the gesture.^[17] Informal pointing, by comparison, often employs an open hand or partial finger extension with minimal arm movement and less gaze coordination, conveying a more casual or background reference.^[17] These formal variants (known as B-points) carry primary, foreground information, while informal ones (S-points) provide secondary, supportive details.^[17] Additionally, imperative pointing is frequently associated with whole-hand shapes, whereas declarative pointing more commonly uses index finger extension.^[18] Rarer forms include demonstrative pointing, which extends deictic reference to abstract concepts by gesturing toward spatial representations or metaphorical locations, such as pointing to an empty area to illustrate a theoretical idea during explanation.^[19] This type highlights pointing's adaptability beyond concrete referents, though it appears less frequently in everyday communication.^[19]

Communicative Functions

Pointing fulfills a directive role through its imperative function, where the gesture directs an addressee's attention and action toward a specific object or event to achieve the pointer's practical goal, such as requesting an object or assistance. In dyadic interactions, particularly between infants and caregivers, imperative pointing acts as an effective mechanism for eliciting help, with the addressee serving as a social tool to obtain desired outcomes. Bates, Camaioni, and Volterra (1975) identified this use as emerging around 9 to 12 months, distinguishing it from earlier non-communicative reaching by its intentional orientation toward the adult's response. Observational studies of child-caregiver play confirm that imperative pointing successfully prompts caregivers to provide the requested item or perform the action in the majority of cases, underscoring its reliability in everyday practical communication. In contrast, the sharing role of pointing, known as declarative pointing, directs attention to an object or event not for personal gain but to establish joint attention and foster social connections. This function builds shared experiences and strengthens interpersonal bonds by inviting the addressee to co-experience an interest. Liszkowski et al. (2004) provided key evidence from an experimental study with 12-month-old infants, showing that they point to interesting events to share attention with adults, even when the event offers no immediate benefit to the child, such as a non-retrievable toy. Follow-up observational research has further demonstrated that declarative pointing promotes sustained joint attention, which supports social learning and emotional reciprocity in interactions.^[20] Pointing frequently combines directive and sharing roles in conversational contexts to enhance clarity, particularly by resolving ambiguities in verbal directives. For instance, when a speaker issues an instruction like "pass the tool," an accompanying point specifies the exact referent among similar objects, reducing miscommunication and improving task coordination. Goldin-Meadow and Alibali (2013) reviewed evidence from speech-gesture studies indicating that such pointing integrates semantic information from the gesture with verbal content, disambiguating references and boosting comprehension in collaborative dialogues. This multimodal use exemplifies pointing's adaptability in resolving referential uncertainty without relying solely on words.^[21] The frequency of directive pointing, especially imperative forms, exhibits notable age differences, with higher rates observed in young children during the second year of life as they prioritize immediate practical needs over social sharing.

Integration with Verbal and Non-Verbal Language

Pointing serves as a key deictic element in spoken language, often complementing pronouns such as "this" or "that" to precisely specify referents in the immediate context. By directing attention to a particular object, location, or entity, pointing gestures disambiguate vague verbal references, allowing speakers to ground abstract linguistic forms in concrete perceptual experiences. For instance, when a speaker says "look at that," the accompanying point clarifies the intended target, integrating gesture with speech to form a cohesive referential act. This synergy enhances communicative efficiency, as the gesture provides spatial and attentional cues that pronouns alone may lack.^[22] In multimodal communication, pointing coordinates with other non-verbal signals, such as head nods or facial expressions, to reinforce intent and emotional nuance. A pointing gesture combined with a confirmatory head nod can signal agreement or emphasis on the referent, while subtle facial cues like raised eyebrows may indicate surprise or urgency tied to the pointed object. These integrations create layered meanings, where the gesture's trajectory aligns temporally and spatially with head movements or expressions to sustain joint attention. Such coordination is evident in everyday interactions, where pointing rarely occurs in isolation but as part of a broader bodily lexicon that amplifies non-verbal expressivity.^[23]^[24] From a linguistic perspective, pointing aligns with pragmatic theories, particularly Grice's framework of conversational implicature, where gestures contribute to inferred meanings beyond literal content. In Gricean terms, pointing adheres to the cooperative principle by maximizing relevance and clarity; for example, a point may implicate shared knowledge about a referent without explicit verbalization, relying on mutual contextual understanding. This pragmatic role positions pointing as a tool for efficient inference, enabling listeners to derive implicatures from the gesture's contextual fit with ongoing discourse. Studies on pointing's pragmatic functions highlight how it balances directive intent with secondary social implications, such as politeness or emphasis, within Gricean maxims.^[17]^[25] Empirical research demonstrates that pointing reduces the cognitive load of verbal disambiguation, particularly in tasks requiring spatial reference, such as navigation. In experiments involving route descriptions, ambiguous verbal instructions paired with pointing gestures improved target identification and comprehension compared to speech alone, as the gesture provided rapid visual cues that minimized the need for additional explanatory words. For example, participants in spatial reference tasks resolved ambiguities faster when pointing clarified referents, effectively substituting for more detailed verbal descriptions and enhancing overall task performance. These findings underscore pointing's role in streamlining multimodal exchanges by alleviating verbal redundancy.^[26]^[27]

Human Development

Acquisition in Early Childhood

Pointing emerges as a key communicative gesture in human infants during the late first year of life, marking a transition from pre-linguistic behaviors to intentional social signaling. Typically developing infants begin producing proto-imperative pointing—gestures aimed at requesting objects or assistance—between 9 and 12 months of age, often using an extended index finger to direct a caregiver toward a desired item.^[2] This form of pointing serves an instrumental purpose, reflecting the infant's growing understanding of others as agents who can fulfill needs. Proto-declarative pointing, which involves sharing attention to an object or event of interest without a specific request, follows shortly thereafter, becoming more reliable between 12 and 18 months.^[28] These timelines show individual variation, with onset influenced by motor maturation and social experiences, but pointing generally appears around 11 to 12 months on average.^[29] A critical milestone in this acquisition is the shift from reaching behaviors, common in earlier infancy, to distal pointing gestures. Around 4 to 8 months, infants exhibit pre-pointing index finger extensions during arousing situations, often paired with reaching attempts to grasp nearby objects. By 12 months, these evolve into functional pointing, where the gesture decouples from physical contact and becomes predominantly right-handed in most infants, signaling a cognitive advance in representing absent goals.^[30] Caregiver responsiveness plays a pivotal role in reinforcing this transition; prompt and relevant responses to early gestures, such as providing the requested object or acknowledging the shared interest, predict increased pointing frequency by 12 months.^[31] Seminal work by Bates et al. (1979) highlighted pointing as a foundational pre-linguistic skill, linking its emergence to broader cognitive and communicative development in the first year.^[32] Environmental factors, particularly exposure to joint attention episodes, accelerate pointing acquisition by fostering triadic interactions between infant, caregiver, and object. Infants who experience frequent caregiver-initiated joint attention—such as following an adult's gaze or point—show earlier and more robust pointing production, as these episodes model the gesture's social utility.^[33] This relation underscores pointing's predictive value for subsequent language onset, with higher gesture use at 12 months correlating to larger early vocabularies.^[29]

Influences from Language and Cognition

The development of pointing gestures in young children is closely intertwined with linguistic exposure, as evidenced by longitudinal studies demonstrating a positive correlation between pointing frequency and vocabulary growth. In a seminal 1990s investigation tracking joint attention behaviors, including pointing, from 9 to 15 months of age, researchers found that infants who more frequently engaged in proto-declarative pointing—directing attention to share interest—exhibited accelerated language comprehension and production by 15 months, with pointing serving as an early predictor of lexical development.^[34] Similarly, subsequent analyses of gesture repertoires, including pointing, in toddlers transitioning from single words to combinations revealed that higher pointing rates at 14 months forecasted larger vocabularies at later ages, such as 42 months, highlighting how early gestural communication lays a foundation for spoken language milestones.^[35] Cognitive prerequisites, particularly the emergence of theory of mind, play a crucial role in enabling more sophisticated forms of pointing, such as declarative gestures that share attention rather than merely request objects. Declarative pointing requires an understanding of others' mental states, distinguishing it from earlier imperative pointing, and typically appears around 12 months as children begin to infer shared perspectives.^[36] In typically developing children, this progression aligns with broader theory of mind development, where the ability to represent and influence another's attentional focus—key to declarative pointing—supports social-cognitive growth and correlates with later false-belief understanding tasks.^[37] The relationship between pointing and language is bidirectional, with pointing not only predicted by linguistic growth but also actively scaffolding word learning through mechanisms outlined in Tomasello's usage-based theory. According to this framework, children acquire language via intention-reading in social interactions, where pointing gestures help map words to referents by establishing joint attention and clarifying speaker intent, thereby accelerating vocabulary acquisition in everyday communicative contexts. For instance, when caregivers respond to a child's point by labeling the targeted object, it reinforces word-referent associations, creating a feedback loop that enhances both gestural and verbal skills over time.^[38] Beyond linguistic and cognitive factors, non-linguistic influences like motor skill maturation are essential for pointing proficiency, as the precise extension of the index finger emerges with fine motor control around 9-12 months. Longitudinal observations indicate that delays in hand-eye coordination can hinder pointing accuracy, underscoring how physical maturation underpins the gesture's reliability in communication. Spatial cognition further shapes pointing development, enabling infants to reference distant or abstract locations effectively; experimental evidence shows that repeated pointing experiences strengthen sensorimotor representations of space, which in turn support early spatial language comprehension.^[39]

Variations in Special Populations

In deaf children acquiring sign languages, pointing gestures emerge early and integrate seamlessly into linguistic systems, often serving as precursors to full signs. Longitudinal studies of deaf infants exposed to American Sign Language (ASL) from birth show that pointing begins around 10 months, initially as deictic gestures to refer to objects or people, and by 12 months, these evolve into referential forms that blend with emerging signs, mirroring the gesture-to-speech trajectory in hearing peers.^[40] This early integration highlights pointing's role in bootstrapping signed vocabulary, with deaf infants producing pointing at rates comparable to hearing infants before formal sign acquisition.^[41] Sign language interventions for deaf children incorporate pointing as a foundational deictic element to facilitate the transition from gestures to signs, supporting expressive language development.^[40] Among individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), pointing exhibits a characteristic imbalance, with reduced use of declarative pointing—intended to share interest or direct attention—contrasted by relatively preserved imperative pointing, which requests objects or actions. Seminal research demonstrates that young children with ASD rarely produce protodeclarative pointing to comment on or share experiences, a deficit linked to impairments in theory of mind and perceptual role-taking, as proposed in Baron-Cohen's mindreading hypothesis.^[42] In contrast, protoimperative pointing appears intact, often used effectively for needs-based communication, though overall gesture production remains lower than in typically developing children.^[43] In other neurodevelopmental populations, pointing development varies distinctly. Children with Down syndrome exhibit delayed onset of pointing, typically emerging later than in typical development, yet once acquired, they produce high frequencies of both imperative and declarative forms, often with strong partner-directed visual checking to sustain interaction.^[44] Conversely, children with Williams syndrome show atypical patterns, including delayed production of declarative pointing and showing gestures, which lag behind spoken words and occur less frequently than in mental-age-matched peers, despite their hypersocial profile and strong motivation for joint attention.^[45] These differences underscore pointing's sensitivity to genetic and cognitive factors in syndromic conditions. Therapeutic interventions leverage pointing to enhance communication across these populations. For children with ASD, behavioral approaches such as modeling, prompting hierarchies, and reinforcement in joint attention programs teach declarative pointing to foster social sharing, with early implementation improving long-term language outcomes.^[46] In deaf children, sign language therapies incorporate pointing as a foundational deictic tool to bridge pre-linguistic gestures with signs, accelerating expressive development.^[40] Similarly, for Down syndrome, targeted joint attention programs like JASPER use pointing prompts to build referential skills, adapting to strengths such as frequent imperative use; for Williams syndrome, similar programs address joint attention deficits to support communication, though specific pointing-focused interventions are less documented.^[47]

Cross-Cultural Differences

Pointing gestures exhibit significant cross-cultural variation in form, frequency, and social acceptability, reflecting underlying norms of politeness, hierarchy, and interpersonal distance. In many Western individualistic societies, such as the United States, index-finger pointing is the predominant and socially neutral method for directing attention, often used exclusively in communication tasks.^[48] In contrast, collectivist societies in Asia frequently view direct index-finger pointing as rude or confrontational, associating it with aggression or disrespect toward others. For instance, in Japan, pointing at individuals with the index finger is considered impolite and accusatory, reserved primarily for confrontational situations, while an open-hand gesture toward the general direction serves as a more respectful alternative.^[49] Similarly, in Thailand, pointing at people is deemed highly offensive, with the preferred substitute being a subtle chin lift to indicate the referent without direct confrontation.^[50] These differences extend to alternative forms of pointing that avoid hand-based directness. In Lao culture, a collectivist society in Southeast Asia, speakers commonly employ lip-pointing—protruding the lips with accompanying head or eyebrow movements—as a "lower register" deictic gesture for identifying referents, particularly in response to questions like "Where?" or "Which one?". This form, which aligns with the speaker's gaze to define its vector, often precedes or complements hand pointing and is used more restrictively for focal information, suggesting a cultural preference for less overt manual gestures to maintain social harmony.^[51] Enfield's fieldwork in rural Laos revealed that while hand pointing occurs, lip-pointing's prevalence highlights how collectivist norms may reduce the frequency of explicit, individuating gestures compared to individualistic contexts.^[17] Taboos surrounding pointing are particularly pronounced in hierarchical contexts, such as Middle Eastern societies, where direct index-finger pointing is seen as disrespectful and intrusive. In Saudi Arabia, for example, individuals avoid pointing with the finger altogether, opting instead to raise the chin and direct their gaze toward the intended object or person to convey the reference indirectly.^[52] This etiquette underscores a broader cultural emphasis on deference and avoiding imposition in social interactions. Anthropological evidence from 20th-century studies further illustrates how such norms can shift across generations; David Efron's research on Sicilian and Lithuanian Jewish immigrants in New York City documented initial cultural differences in gestural repertoires, including pointing styles, that gradually assimilated toward American patterns among descendants, demonstrating the environmental influence on gesture adaptation.^[53] Overall, these variations reveal pointing not as a universal act but as a culturally modulated tool shaped by societal values of individualism versus collectivism. In educational settings, teachers frequently employ pointing gestures to direct students' attention to key elements, such as diagrams or objects, thereby enhancing comprehension and retention. For instance, in a study involving preschoolers learning about symmetry, children exposed to lessons incorporating teachers' pointing and tracing gestures demonstrated significantly higher post-lesson performance on symmetry judgments and explanations compared to those in verbal-only conditions, with effect sizes indicating a moderate to large impact (d=0.75). This facilitation is attributed to gestures providing perceptual scaffolding that aligns verbal explanations with visual referents, increasing attention and reducing off-task behaviors like head turns. However, the effectiveness can vary; research on middle-school mathematics lessons showed that pointing directly at equations sometimes reduced learning outcomes by diverting attention from related graphs, suggesting that strategic use—focusing gestures on primary instructional targets—optimizes benefits.^[54]^[55] In public contexts, pointing serves practical functions like providing directions, where it efficiently conveys spatial information to strangers. Observational studies in urban environments reveal that index-finger pointing predominates for visible targets (used in approximately 91% of cases), while invisible or distant targets often elicit sequential gestures, such as an initial index-finger point followed by a whole-hand gesture, adapting to the need for broader referential scope in dynamic settings. In protest scenarios, pointing emerges as a collective signal to highlight grievances or coordinate actions. These applications underscore pointing's role in rapid, non-verbal coordination during high-stakes social interactions.^[56] Pointing also intersects with gender and power dynamics, often functioning as an assertive signal that reinforces dominance in interpersonal exchanges. Seminal work on nonverbal power cues posits that directive gestures like pointing embody control over conversational space, with men employing them more frequently to assert authority, aligning with societal norms of male dominance in public discourse. Empirical analyses confirm that expansive pointing—extending the arm fully—correlates with perceptions of higher status, particularly when used by individuals in positions of power, though women may face interpretive biases viewing their pointing as less authoritative due to gendered expectations. This dynamic highlights pointing's subtle role in negotiating hierarchies, where its use can either affirm or challenge relational power imbalances.^[57] Research on virtual environments has explored pointing's adaptation to video calls, addressing challenges in remote collaboration where physical deictic references are obscured. Studies demonstrate that simulating pointing via electrical muscle stimulation (EMS) enables accurate relay of gestures across distances, achieving 78% target identification success in immersive setups, thus mitigating miscommunication in distributed teams.^[58] Arm-warping techniques in virtual reality further improve interpretation of vertical deictic points by 20-30% compared to unadjusted video feeds, enhancing referential clarity during screen-sharing or hybrid meetings.^[59] These innovations reflect pointing's evolution into digital tools, sustaining its social utility amid widespread videoconferencing.

Comparative and Evolutionary Aspects

Pointing in Non-Human Animals

Pointing behaviors in non-human animals refer to gestures or actions that direct attention to specific objects, locations, or events, often observed in social contexts. These behaviors vary across species and are typically studied to assess referential communication and intentionality, though their cognitive underpinnings remain debated. While rare in wild settings, pointing-like gestures emerge more frequently in captive or domesticated animals interacting with humans or conspecifics.^[60] In primates, particularly chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), individuals have been observed using body parts or tools, such as sticks, to direct attention, as documented in experimental settings. For instance, Povinelli and colleagues conducted experiments where chimpanzees gestured toward desired objects or locations, but results indicated that these actions might serve expressive rather than referential purposes, lacking evidence of understanding the recipient's perspective.^[61] Chimpanzees in captivity spontaneously produce pointing gestures when requesting food from humans, adjusting their hand shapes and positions based on the human's attentional state, though field observations suggest such behaviors are infrequent without human influence.^[62] These findings highlight chimpanzees' gestural repertoire but question the intentional communication of pointing compared to humans.^[63] Among canids, domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) excel at following human pointing cues, a skill attributed to domestication processes that enhanced social cognition. Hare and Tomasello's experiments demonstrated that dogs reliably use momentary distal points—gestures without physical contact—to locate hidden food, outperforming chimpanzees and wolves in object-choice tasks.^[64] This ability develops early in puppies and persists across breeds, suggesting selection for interpreting human referential signals during thousands of years of cohabitation with humans.^[65] In contrast, wolves show limited success in similar tasks, underscoring domestication's role in fostering this behavior.^[66] Recent studies as of 2023–2024 indicate that dogs also flexibly comprehend pointing in varying salience and contexts, outperforming cats in testability and reliance on human gestures.^[67]^[68] Other species exhibit pointing-like acts, expanding the scope beyond mammals. Ravens (Corvus corax) in the wild use distinct beak gestures, such as holding or showing non-edible objects like moss or stones, to direct conspecifics' attention to those objects during affiliative interactions.^[69] These referential gestures occur in natural contexts and are adjusted based on the recipient's position, indicating intentionality.^[70] Similarly, African elephants (Loxodonta africana) comprehend human pointing without training, successfully locating hidden food by following trunk-directed or hand-based cues, even when the pointer is distant from the target.^[71] In a study with 11 captive elephants, seven individuals performed above chance levels, demonstrating sensitivity to gesture direction and proximity.^[72] Studying intentionality in these pointing behaviors presents methodological challenges, including distinguishing genuine referential signals from coincidental or stimulus-driven actions. Researchers must control for non-social cues like proximity or odor, as animals may respond based on physical features rather than communicative intent.^[73] Statistical criteria, such as assessing goal-directedness and recipient adjustment, help operationalize intentionality, but interspecies variations complicate direct comparisons.^[74] These observations collectively point to evolutionary precursors for human-like pointing, potentially linked to shared social pressures across taxa.^[75]

Evolutionary Origins and Implications

The evolutionary origins of human pointing are closely tied to the development of cooperative behaviors and tool use among early hominids, facilitating shared attention and joint activities essential for survival. According to the Mirror System Hypothesis proposed by Rizzolatti and Arbib, mirror neurons originally evolved in primates for grasping and manual actions, providing a neural foundation for imitating and understanding others' intentions, which later extended to communicative gestures like pointing during hominid evolution around 2-3 million years ago. This hypothesis posits that pointing emerged as an extension of proto-tool gestures, enabling early Homo species to coordinate hunting, scavenging, and tool-sharing in social groups, thereby enhancing cooperative foraging and reducing individual risks in resource-scarce environments. Pointing's implications extend to its role as a proto-deictic system in the origins of language, serving as a bridge from gestural communication to symbolic vocalization. In this framework, pointing allowed early humans to direct attention to external referents, laying the groundwork for deictic elements in grammar, such as pronouns and demonstratives, by establishing shared referential frames before vocal language fully developed. Fossil evidence, including a primitive organization of Broca's area homologues in early Homo skulls dated to approximately 1.9 million years ago^[76] and refined hand morphology in Homo erectus remains from 1.8 million years ago, supports gestural precedence over vocalization, as these adaptations suggest advanced manual dexterity for expressive gestures prior to the anatomical changes enabling complex speech in later Homo species.^[77] Comparative anatomical studies further indicate that early Homo's bipedalism freed the hands for gestural signaling, contrasting with quadrupedal ancestors and aligning with archaeological traces of Oldowan tool cultures that imply collaborative pointing for demonstration.^[77] Debates surrounding pointing's evolution center on innateness versus cultural transmission, with phylogenetic studies from the 2010s highlighting how weak biological predispositions can amplify into universal forms through iterated learning. Proponents of innateness argue that pointing's emergence reflects genetically encoded social-cognitive adaptations unique to Homo, as evidenced by its absence in non-human primates' wild repertoires despite laboratory training. In contrast, cultural evolution models demonstrate that pointing conventions arise and stabilize via social transmission, suggesting that while neural substrates like mirror systems provide a scaffold, the gesture's deictic specificity evolved culturally across generations, resolving debates by integrating both biological and learned components. These phylogenetic analyses, drawing on cross-species comparisons, underscore pointing's adaptive value in fostering cumulative culture, a hallmark distinguishing human evolution.^[78]^[79]

Perceptual and Physiological Bases

Gaze and Eye Pointing

Gaze pointing, also known as eye pointing, refers to the use of eye movements to direct attention or indicate referents without manual gestures, often serving as a subtle form of deictic communication. Unlike hand pointing, which involves overt limb extension, gaze pointing relies on shifts in eye direction that can be integrated with head orientation to establish joint attention in social interactions. This non-manual variant is particularly prominent in situations where physical constraints limit hand use, such as during tasks requiring both hands or in close-proximity conversations.^[80] In everyday communication, subtle gaze shifts function to cue attention toward objects or events, especially when speakers or listeners are engaged in activities that preclude hand gestures. For instance, during collaborative tasks like cooking or assembly, individuals may use brief eye movements combined with verbal cues to highlight relevant items, maintaining referential clarity without interrupting manual actions. Research demonstrates that these gaze cues are processed rapidly, with observers detecting and responding to directional eye shifts in under 300 milliseconds, underscoring their efficiency in dynamic, hands-free contexts.^[81]^[82] Head and gaze integration plays a crucial role in establishing triadic relations—coordinating attention among a communicator, recipient, and external referent—particularly in early developmental stages. Seminal studies on infants reveal that by around 6 to 12 months of age, children begin reliably following an adult's gaze direction to objects, marking the onset of joint attention skills essential for social learning. This integration often involves head turns amplifying subtle eye movements, allowing infants to disambiguate gaze cues and align their focus with the adult's intent, as evidenced in experimental paradigms where gaze following predicts later language acquisition.^[83]^[84] Cultural nuances significantly influence the use of gaze pointing, with variations in eye contact norms affecting its acceptability and interpretation. In some Indigenous groups, such as certain Native American communities, direct or prolonged eye contact is often avoided as a sign of respect or to prevent perceived aggression, leading to reliance on averted gaze or head tilts for subtle attentional direction. These practices highlight how cultural conventions shape the deployment of gaze as a pointing tool, adapting it to maintain harmony in interactions.^[85] In accessibility technologies, eye pointing has been adapted for non-verbal individuals, enabling communication through gaze-directed interfaces. Systems like eye-tracking augmentative devices allow users with motor impairments, such as those with ALS or cerebral palsy, to select symbols or letters by fixating their gaze, facilitating text generation or device control in hands-free environments. High-impact implementations, including smartphone-based gaze gesture recognition, achieve word prediction accuracies exceeding 90% with minimal calibration, empowering independent expression for populations previously reliant on cumbersome alternatives.^[86]^[87]

Neural and Cognitive Mechanisms

The production and comprehension of pointing gestures involve coordinated activity across multiple brain regions, with the parietal lobe playing a central role in spatial coding and motor planning. Functional neuroimaging studies have identified the posterior parietal cortex, particularly the intraparietal sulcus and superior parietal lobule, as key areas for representing spatial locations during pointing tasks, enabling the transformation of visual targets into motor commands.^[88] This region integrates sensory information to guide hand trajectories toward intended referents, distinct from eye movements alone.^[89] The superior temporal sulcus (STS), especially its posterior portion, is implicated in inferring the intentionality behind observed pointing gestures, facilitating social communication by decoding the communicator's goals. Event-related fMRI experiments demonstrate that the right posterior STS activates when viewers process directional cues from pointing fingers, similar to those from gaze, supporting the attribution of attention and intent to others.^[90] This region contributes to a broader network for social perception, where pointing is interpreted as a cue to shared attention rather than mere mechanical motion. Cognitive processes underlying declarative pointing, which shares information without imperative demand, recruit mentalizing networks associated with theory of mind. fMRI studies post-2000 reveal that declarative pointing engages the temporoparietal junction and medial prefrontal cortex, regions linked to understanding others' mental states, contrasting with imperative pointing's focus on motor execution.^[91] For instance, when participants produce or observe declarative points, increased activation in these areas correlates with the inference of communicative intent, emphasizing mentalizing over basic spatial mapping.^[92] Neurological disorders such as limb apraxia impair pointing by disrupting the planning and execution of skilled gestures, often due to lesions in left-hemisphere perisylvian areas including Broca's region. Ideomotor apraxia, a common form of limb apraxia, leads to errors in gesture pantomime and pointing accuracy, as patients struggle to translate intentions into precise arm movements despite intact strength and comprehension.^[93] Lesions in Broca's area (Brodmann areas 44/45) have been associated with gesture production deficits, including pointing, as this region supports the integration of manual actions with linguistic elements in communication.^[94] Recent research in the 2020s highlights multimodal integration in pointing comprehension, where neural circuits combine gestural, verbal, and visual cues for robust understanding. Meta-analyses of fMRI data show that co-speech pointing activates overlapping networks in the inferior frontal gyrus and posterior middle temporal gyrus, with progressive engagement as integration depth increases from isolated gestures to full multimodal contexts.^[95] Studies using naturalistic paradigms further demonstrate that the STS and parietal regions facilitate real-time binding of pointing with speech, enhancing referential disambiguation in dynamic interactions.^[96]

References

[1]
Sage Reference - Encyclopedia of Language Development - Pointing
Pointing is one of the most basic forms of directing a person's attention to aspects in the world relevant to one's thinking.
[2]
The origin of pointing: Evidence for the touch hypothesis - Science
Jul 10, 2019 · Pointing gestures play a foundational role in human language, but up to now, we have not known where these gestures come from.
[3]
Origins of the human pointing gesture: a training study - PubMed
Sep 7, 2012 · We report a training study in which mothers gave children one month of extra daily experience with pointing as compared with a control group who ...
[4]
The emergence of pointing as a communicative gesture: Age-related ...
Pointing originates in non-communicative uses of the index finger, most notably touching, and gains its social function in the course of early development.
[5]
Perception of pointing gestures in 3D space | Scientific Reports
Nov 11, 2024 · Pointing gestures are often used to refer to distant referents by indicating in which vertical and horizontal direction the referent is ...
[6]
Deictic Gestures - (Intro to Public Speaking) - Fiveable
Deictic gestures are hand movements that point to or indicate objects, people, or locations in the environment. These gestures play a vital role in ...
[7]
Pointing perception is precise - ScienceDirect.com
Pointing – a gesture we primarily use to share attention with others (Cappuccio, Chu, & Kita, 2013) – involves extending the arm and index finger away from the ...
[8]
Deictic - Etymology, Origin & Meaning
Origin and history of deictic in logic, "direct, proving directly" (opposed to elenchic), 1828, from Latinized form of Greek deiktikos "able to show," from ...Missing: gesture | Show results with:gesture
[9]
Joint Attention: What is It and Why is it Important?
Mar 25, 2022 · A child may initiate joint attention by using eye gaze, gestures, or words. Pointing is considered to be the cornerstone of joint attention.
[10]
Exploring Infant Gesture and Joint Attention as Related Constructs ...
In infancy, use of gestures and the ability to engage in joint attention with others are both predictors of later language development.
[11]
[PDF] Deictic gestures and symbolic gestures produced by adults in an ...
Jul 11, 2017 · The pointing gesture is the main representative of this category and it can fulfil several communicative functions.
[12]
Gesture and Environment - David Efron - Google Books
Edition, illustrated ; Publisher, King's crown Press, 1941 ; Original from, the University of Virginia ; Digitized, Oct 4, 2008 ; ISBN, 3112147510, 9783112147511.
[13]
(PDF) 2 On the Origins of Modern Gesture Studies - ResearchGate
Jul 3, 2025 · ... Gesture, race and culture. Preface by Paul Ekman. [Re-issue of Gesture and. environment, originally published 1941] The Hague: Mouton and Co.
[14]
Types of Gestures and Their Meanings - BetterUp
Jun 14, 2023 · You probably know them as “pointing.” People use deictic gestures to indicate which object, person, or direction they're referring to. They're ...
[15]
Types of Gestures - Paul Ekman Group
Explore the different types of gestures people use to communicate, and see examples of gestures based on Dr. Ekman's nonverbal communication research.
[16]
Infant pointing serves an interrogative function - PubMed
May 25, 2012 · Many studies have converged on the view that early pointing reflects a motivation to share attention and interest with others.
[17]
Primary and secondary pragmatic functions of pointing gestures
Primary pointing gestures (B-points) carry foreground information, while secondary (S-points) carry background information, responding to uncertain common ...Missing: informal | Show results with:informal
[18]
Pointing gestures produced by toddlers from 15 to 30 months
Main results revealed that imperative gestures were associated with whole-hand pointing, whereas declarative gestures were more frequently characterized by an ...
[19]
(PDF) Pointing in gesture and sign - ResearchGate
Oct 30, 2020 · The case of pointing shows, first, how a single semiotic tool can be put to many uses and, second, how speakers and signers use this tool in some ways that are ...
[20]
Twelve‐month‐olds point to share attention and interest - Liszkowski
May 17, 2004 · Infants point for various motives. Classically, one such motive is declarative, to share attention and interest with adults to events.
[21]
Gesture's role in speaking, learning, and creating language - PMC
Gesture can play a role in communication and thought at many timespans. We explore, in turn, gesture's contribution to how language is produced and understood.
[22]
At 10–12 Months, Pointing Gesture Handedness Predicts the Size of ...
Mar 11, 2016 · Furthermore, 14- to 16-month-olds with a right-hand bias for pointing had larger vocabularies than infants without such a bias (Esseily et al., ...
[23]
When gesture-speech combinations do and do not index linguistic ...
They use deictic gestures to identify referents in their immediate environment (e.g., pointing at a dog to indicate a DOG), iconic gestures to convey ...
[24]
Exploring the Effects of Imitating Hand Gestures and Head Nods on ...
Building on previous research showing that nonverbal behaviors, such as hand gestures (Gs) and head nods (HNs), are tightly integrated with the speech contours ...
[25]
[PDF] What and Where: An Empirical Investigation of Pointing Gestures ...
Abstract. Pointing gestures are pervasive in human referring actions, and are often combined with spoken descriptions. Combining ges-.
[26]
[PDF] The pragmatics of imperative and declarative pointing Brinck, Ingar
According to Bates, imperative pointing signals that the child wants the adult to do something, while declarative pointing signals that the child wants the.
[27]
Effects of Ambiguous Gestures and Language on the Time Course ...
Sep 27, 2010 · Ambiguous, yet informative pointing gestures elicited attention and facilitated target identification, akin to verbal location descriptions.Abstract · 1. Experiment 1 · 2. Experiment 2
[28]
Pointing the way forward: Gesture and adults' recall of route ...
... verbal route directions did not enhance listeners' verbal recall or route navigation. In Experiment 2, when the verbal route directions were edited to be ...
[29]
Protodeclarative Pointing - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics
At 14 to 16 months of age, the typically developing child begins to point simply to “comment” about, or “share,” an interesting object/event (protodeclarative ...
[30]
Correlates of infant pointing frequency in the first year - Ger - 2023
Sep 25, 2023 · Infants start to point conventionally with the index finger sometime between 8 and 15 months of age, on average at 11–12 months (Butterworth & ...
[31]
Form and function in the development of pointing and reaching ...
A cross-sequential assessment of the occurrences of pointing in 3- to 12-month-old human infants ... transition from spontaneous movements to voluntary reaching.
[32]
Development of Infant Pointing from 10 to 12 months: The Role of ...
Apr 16, 2018 · Relevant caregiver responsiveness at 10 months predicted infants' pointing frequency at 12 months, controlling for the other factors and infants ...
[33]
Infants' pointing at nine months is associated with maternal ...
In a similar vein, Vaughan et al. (2003) found that parents' scaffolding at 9 months of age predicted the infants' ability to initiate joint attention episodes ...
[34]
The Role of Declarative Pointing in Developing a Theory of Mind
Jan 18, 2010 · This study tested the following predictions: First, in typically developing children declarative pointing emerges later than imperative pointing.Missing: Molina | Show results with:Molina
[35]
The Role of Declarative Pointing in Developing a Theory of Mind.
This study tested the following predictions: First, in typically developing children declarative pointing emerges later than imperative pointing.
[36]
Early gesture selectively predicts later language learning - PMC - NIH
At 18 months, gesture vocabulary predicts vocabulary at 42 months, while gesture+speech combinations predict sentence complexity at 42 months.
[37]
Experience with pointing gestures facilitates infant vocabulary ...
This is the first evidence suggesting that increasing exposure to gestures may impact infants' language development through an effect on sensorimotor brain ...Missing: maturation | Show results with:maturation
[38]
[PDF] From gesture to sign and from gesture to word. Pointing in deaf and ...
Jan 5, 2012 · Petitto (1986) observed that the deaf signing child she studied longitudinally started pointing at 10 months. Up to 12 months, the child ...
[39]
Gesture and intonation are “sister systems” of infant communication
A canonical example was documented by Petitto (1987) in a study of pointing gestures in two infants learning American Sign Language (ASL).
[40]
Perceptual role taking and protodeclarative pointing in autism
In particular, protodeclarative pointing was impaired whilst protoimperative pointing was not. The possibility that impaired protodeclarative pointing may be a ...
[41]
Different Ways of Making a Point: A Study of Gestural ...
Nov 26, 2020 · Children with autism produce less gestures than typical children, and pointing gestures appear to be more affected than other gesture types.
[42]
Use of pointing and other gestures by young children with Down ...
Pointing, reaching, and other communicative gestures were elicited from 22 children with Down syndrome ages 21 to 47 months in two communicative contexts ...
[43]
Cognitive and Behavioral Characteristics of Children with Williams ...
Children with WS are ready to begin therapy aimed at vocabulary acquisition well before they begin to produce referential pointing gestures, and young children ...
[44]
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8527112/
[45]
About Baby Signing | The ASHA Leader Archive
Infant manual activity is visible and malleable in advance of vocal and spoken language activity, and in advance of sign language activity (Petitto & Marentette ...
[46]
Methods to improve joint attention in young children with autism - NIH
In this review, we focus on RCT interventions that have aimed to improve JA in young children with ASD and provide an overview of results of research in the ...Missing: deaf | Show results with:deaf
[47]
The Preference for Pointing With the Hand Is Not Universal - PubMed
The findings raise questions about why groups differ in their pointing preferences and, more broadly, about why humans communicate in the ways they do. Keywords ...
[48]
Pointing Is Considered Rude In Japan. Here's What To Do Instead
Jul 15, 2024 · Another great tip is to remember the fact that showing the soles of your feet to someone is also considered disrespectful. This is particularly ...
[49]
Are there gestures considered offensive in Thailand?
May 26, 2019 · Don't point: Pointing at someone is considered rude in many cultures but particularly so in Thailand. If you must indicate a person, do so ...<|separator|>
[50]
A discussion of form and function with reference to data from Laos
Aug 7, 2025 · This paper discusses form and function of lip-pointing with reference to a set of examples collected on video in Laos.
[51]
Saudi Arabian - Communication - Cultural Atlas
Jan 1, 2024 · Pointing: It is considered very rude to point with the index finger. Instead, Saudis raise their chin and look in the general direction of the ...
[52]
https://culturalatlas.sbs.com.au/saudi-arabian-culture/saudi-arabian-culture-communication
[53]
[PDF] Teachers' gestures facilitate students' learning: A lesson in symmetry
This study investigated whether teachers' gestures influence students' comprehen- sion of instructional discourse, and thereby influence students' learning.Missing: impact scholarly articles
[54]
Teachers' gestures and students' learning: sometimes “hands off” is ...
Oct 25, 2017 · In this paper, we report basic research designed to investigate whether teacher gesture influences student learning from lessons about links between graphs and ...
[55]
Pointing to Visible and Invisible Targets - PMC - NIH
We investigated how the visibility of targets influenced the type of point used to provide directions.
[56]
(PDF) Nonverbal Expressions of Dominance and Power in Human ...
Sep 6, 2014 · PDF | This chapter focuses on the nonverbal signals of dominance-submission and power-powerlessness in human relationships.Missing: pointing | Show results with:pointing
[57]
Simulating Deictic Pointing Gestures across Distances Using Electro ...
Sep 3, 2020 · ... study is particularly on the transmission of the deictic pointing gesture. ... A cross-cultural study of the communication of extra- verbal ...
[58]
Understanding the Point of Chimpanzee Pointing - NIH
The difference in the communicative repertoires of wild and captive chimpanzees indicates that these apes will develop pointing when they are faced with the ...
[59]
Do chimpanzees tailor their gestural signals to fit the attentional ...
The use of vocalizations and tactile gestures by seven juvenile chimpanzees was experimentally investigated.
[60]
Chimpanzees' "pointing": Another error of the argument by analogy?
In this chapter, the authors explore the possibility that chimpanzees do not point, despite the apparently self-evident case that they do.
[61]
[PDF] Do chimpanzees use their gestures to instruct each other?
Despite the fact that current research suggests that chimpanzees may not understand that their gestures influence the mental states of others, it is possible ...
[62]
https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2003-00985-003
[63]
[PDF] Brian Hare The Domestication of Social Cognition in Dogs
Dec 3, 2010 · Our conclusion is that as a result of the process of domestication, some aspects of the social-cognitive abilities of dogs have converged, ...
[64]
[PDF] The domestication hypothesis for dogs
Aug 29, 2009 · Domestic dogs have special skills in comprehending human communicative behaviours (Hare & Tomasello 2005; Miklosi 2008).
[65]
The use of referential gestures in ravens (Corvus corax) in the wild
Nov 29, 2011 · Our results provide evidence that the use of referential gestures is not restricted to the primate lineage. Ravens also use distinct object- ...
[66]
Response to: Commentary: The use of referential gestures in ravens ...
Pika and Bugnyar (2011) investigated the use of two specific behaviors, SHOWING and OFFERING of objects (e.g., little stones and moss), used in natural ...Missing: papers | Show results with:papers
[67]
African Elephants Can Use Human Pointing Cues to Find Hidden ...
Oct 21, 2013 · Here we show that a group of 11 captive African elephants, seven of them significantly as individuals, could interpret human pointing to find hidden food.
[68]
African elephants can use human pointing cues to find hidden food
Oct 21, 2013 · Elephants successfully interpreted pointing when the experimenter's proximity to the hiding place was varied and when the ostensive pointing ...
[69]
A comparative analysis of animals' understanding of the human ...
Aug 10, 2025 · We review studies demonstrating the ability of some animals to understand the human pointing gesture. We present a 3-step analysis of the topic.
[70]
Intentional communication: solving methodological issues to ...
Jan 13, 2021 · We present a unified operational-level scheme to distinguish between non-intentional and 'first-order' intentional signalling across species and the audible ...
[71]
Scratching beneath the surface: intentionality in great ape signal ...
Nov 18, 2019 · The findings of first-order intentional signal production in distantly related species provide insights into the types of problems and pressures ...
[72]
Language, gesture, skill: the co-evolutionary foundations of language
The earliest signs of tool-assisted access to meat are found from about 3.4 Mya; stone tools themselves are found from about 2.3 Mya; more sophisticated, ...
[73]
Innateness and culture in the evolution of language - PNAS
We show that cultural transmission can magnify weak biases into strong linguistic universals, undermining one of the arguments for strong innate constraints on ...Missing: 2010s | Show results with:2010s
[74]
(PDF) Bühler's two-field theory of pointing and naming and the ...
Sep 12, 2014 · In this theory, there are two basic types of linguistic expressions, deictics (or 'pointing words') and symbols (or 'naming words'), that are ...
[75]
Perceiving social signals: The similarity of direct gazing and pointing
In this study, we conducted three experiments to test whether there are similarities between the perception of direct pointing and direct looking.
[76]
Attention to Speech-Accompanying Gestures: Eye Movements and ...
Studies using eye-tracking techniques in face-to-face interaction have further demonstrated that addressees spend as much as 90–95% of the total viewing ...
[77]
The Role of Eye Gaze in Regulating Turn Taking in Conversations
Apr 6, 2021 · Eye gaze plays an important role in communication but understanding of its actual function or functions and the methods used to elucidate ...
[78]
The capacity for joint visual attention in the infant - Nature
Jan 24, 1975 · We report a preliminary investigation of the extent of the infant's ability to follow changes in adult gaze direction during the first year of life.
[79]
The development of gaze following and its relation to language - NIH
Development of joint visual attention in infants. In: Moore C, Dunham PJ, editors. Joint attention: Its origins and role in development. Hillsdale, NJ ...
[80]
Hands on: Nonverbal communication in Native and Non-Native ...
However, within the Native community, avoiding direct eye contact or other forms of assertive behavior when engaged with unfamiliar adults carries a very ...
[81]
[PDF] Cultural Differences in Nonverbal Communication
In many cultures, however, including Hispanic, Asian, Middle Eastern, and Native American, eye contact is thought to be disrespectful or rude, and lack of eye ...Missing: taboos | Show results with:taboos
[82]
Eye Tracking Research to Answer Questions about Augmentative ...
This type of technology promises to open up avenues of research on patterns of visual attention during communication in natural and functional contexts.
[83]
[PDF] Smartphone-Based Gaze Gesture Communication for People with ...
The GazeSpeak system, including algorithms to robustly recognize eye gestures in real time on a hand-held smartphone and decode these gestures into predicted.
[84]
Parietal and superior frontal visuospatial maps activated by pointing ...
In this study, we have tested for the existence of spatial maps, in parietal cortex and elsewhere, that are recruited by finger pointing but not eye movements. ...Missing: gestures | Show results with:gestures
[85]
Posterior parietal cortex - ScienceDirect.com
Jul 24, 2017 · The role of posterior parietal cortex in representing bodily position and spatial orientation is not limited to peripersonal space, but includes ...
[86]
The posterior superior temporal sulcus is involved in social ...
Not only the eyes, but also a pointing finger of another person can inform us about the direction of attention of the other one. In an event-related functional ...
[87]
Brain activity modulation during the production of imperative and ...
Apr 1, 2015 · We propose that pointing with declarative intention recruits a network of regions associated with will, motivation, emotional/affective expression and ...Missing: studies | Show results with:studies
[88]
Do You Know What I Mean? Brain Oscillations and the ...
Feb 4, 2014 · Following the hypothesis that declarative rather than imperative pointing reflects mentalizing skills, we expected the neural network associated ...
[89]
Ideomotor Apraxia - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics
Ideomotor apraxia refers to a common form of limb apraxia that involves difficulties in executing gestures due to deficits in action execution.The Central Language... · Clinical · Pathophysiology
[90]
Speech-associated gestures, Broca's area, and the human mirror ...
Speech-associated gestures are hand and arm movements that not only convey semantic information to listeners but are themselves actions.
[91]
Language and gesture neural correlates: A meta‐analysis of ...
Nov 16, 2023 · To investigate the neural network underpinned in the processing of co-speech gestures and to observe whether there is a relationship between areas involved in ...
[92]
Multimodal processing in face-to-face interactions: A bridging link ...
Feb 2, 2023 · Multimodal processing in face-to-face interactions involves interpreting signals like head, face, gestures, speech, and sounds to bind them ...