Do 18-month-olds really attribute mental states to others? A critical test

The current study investigated whether 18-months-olds attribute opaque mental states when they solve false belief tests, or simply rely on behavioural cues available in the stimuli. Infants experienced either a trick blindfold that looked opaque but could be seen through, or an opaque blindfold. Then both groups of infants observed an actor wearing the same blindfold that they had themselves experienced, whilst a puppet removed an object from its location. Anticipatory eye movements revealed that infants who experienced the opaque blindfold expected the actor’s action in accord with her having a false belief about the object's location, but infants who experienced the trick blindfold did not. The results suggest that 18-months-olds used self-experience with the blindfold to assess the actor's visual access, and updated her knowledge/belief state accordingly. These data constitute compelling evidence that 18-months-olds infer perceptual access and appreciate its causal role in altering epistemic states of others.