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No Evidence for Agent-Patient Role Attribution in Human Infants, Human Adults, and Guinea Baboons ('Papio papio')

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Title: No Evidence for Agent-Patient Role Attribution in Human Infants, Human Adults, and Guinea Baboons ('Papio papio')
Language: English
Authors: Floor Meewis (ORCID 0009-0003-7138-4806), Iris Barezzi (ORCID 0009-0002-2777-3698), Marielle Hababou-Bernson (ORCID 0009-0002-6408-4154), Joël Fagot (ORCID 0000-0002-9824-9685), Nicolas Claidière (ORCID 0000-0002-4472-6597), Isabelle Dautriche (ORCID 0000-0002-2297-985X)
Source: Cognitive Science. 2026 50(1).
Availability: Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://www.wiley.com/en-us
Peer Reviewed: Y
Page Count: 24
Publication Date: 2026
Document Type: Journal Articles
Reports - Research
Descriptors: Infants, Infant Behavior, Attribution Theory, Role Perception, Animals, Habituation
DOI: 10.1111/cogs.70167
ISSN: 0364-0213
1551-6709
Abstract: Languages describe "who is doing what to whom" by distinguishing the event roles of agent (doer) and patient (undergoer), but it is debated whether they result from nonlinguistic representations that may already exist in preverbal infants and nonhuman animals. The phenomenon of causal perception, where the subsequent movements of two objects A and B evoke the impression of A launching B, is a simple depiction of an agent-patient relation. The seminal study by Leslie and Keeble from 1987 proposed that infants of 6 months old may be able to attribute agent and patient roles to such causal displays, after they demonstrated the infants' dishabituation upon seeing a launching event that was reversed. They introduced the idea that a role reversal had taken place upon reversing the direction of the launching event (launcher becoming launchee), but not in a noncausal temporal gap event where the agent and patient roles were not present. The present study tested this hypothesis in three different populations: 6-month-old human infants, human adults, and Guinea baboons ("Papio papio"). For the human infants, we applied a habituation-dishabituation design, and for the human adults and baboons, a conditional match-to-sample task. We were unable to replicate the findings of Leslie and Keeble in human infants. Similarly, we did not find evidence for an effect specific to reversing launching events in human adults and baboons. Inconsistent results across different studies call into question the role reversal paradigm for Michottean launches to study event role attribution.
Abstractor: As Provided
Entry Date: 2026
Accession Number: EJ1495756
Database: ERIC
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  Data: No Evidence for Agent-Patient Role Attribution in Human Infants, Human Adults, and Guinea Baboons ('Papio papio')
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Floor+Meewis%22">Floor Meewis</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="https://orcid.org/0009-0003-7138-4806">0009-0003-7138-4806</externalLink>)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Iris+Barezzi%22">Iris Barezzi</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="https://orcid.org/0009-0002-2777-3698">0009-0002-2777-3698</externalLink>)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Marielle+Hababou-Bernson%22">Marielle Hababou-Bernson</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="https://orcid.org/0009-0002-6408-4154">0009-0002-6408-4154</externalLink>)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Joël+Fagot%22">Joël Fagot</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9824-9685">0000-0002-9824-9685</externalLink>)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Nicolas+Claidière%22">Nicolas Claidière</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4472-6597">0000-0002-4472-6597</externalLink>)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Isabelle+Dautriche%22">Isabelle Dautriche</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2297-985X">0000-0002-2297-985X</externalLink>)
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  Data: Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://www.wiley.com/en-us
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Infants%22">Infants</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Infant+Behavior%22">Infant Behavior</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Attribution+Theory%22">Attribution Theory</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Role+Perception%22">Role Perception</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Animals%22">Animals</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Habituation%22">Habituation</searchLink>
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  Data: Languages describe "who is doing what to whom" by distinguishing the event roles of agent (doer) and patient (undergoer), but it is debated whether they result from nonlinguistic representations that may already exist in preverbal infants and nonhuman animals. The phenomenon of causal perception, where the subsequent movements of two objects A and B evoke the impression of A launching B, is a simple depiction of an agent-patient relation. The seminal study by Leslie and Keeble from 1987 proposed that infants of 6 months old may be able to attribute agent and patient roles to such causal displays, after they demonstrated the infants' dishabituation upon seeing a launching event that was reversed. They introduced the idea that a role reversal had taken place upon reversing the direction of the launching event (launcher becoming launchee), but not in a noncausal temporal gap event where the agent and patient roles were not present. The present study tested this hypothesis in three different populations: 6-month-old human infants, human adults, and Guinea baboons ("Papio papio"). For the human infants, we applied a habituation-dishabituation design, and for the human adults and baboons, a conditional match-to-sample task. We were unable to replicate the findings of Leslie and Keeble in human infants. Similarly, we did not find evidence for an effect specific to reversing launching events in human adults and baboons. Inconsistent results across different studies call into question the role reversal paradigm for Michottean launches to study event role attribution.
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