Looking without seeing: Children do not distinguish efficient from inefficient means to achieve a goal

Observing actions provides important information about other people’s goals and the means they use to achieve their goals. Preschoolers (N=22) and adults (N=22) watched videorecorded actors use efficient and inefficient means of grasping a hammer to pound a peg. Eye tracking showed that participants at both ages looked equally long at the goal target (the peg) but adults looked longer than children at the means—how actors grasped the hammer. Deep learning analysis of participants’ eye gaze distinguished observation of efficient from inefficient grasps for adults, but not for children. Moreover, only adults showed differential physiological responses while observing efficient versus inefficient grasps in action-related neural activity (EEG) and pupil dilation. Thus, children can actively direct their gaze to look at goal-directed actions without seeing whether the means are efficient or not. Moreover, findings suggest that the development of action perception is built from children’s own motor experiences.