Early development of action control

Abstract

In recent years, the study of early action perception as well as action production has become an important topic in developmental psychology. This paper gives an overview of the development of early understanding of actions performed by other persons and on the development of actions performed by young children themselves. It offers a theoretical framework for early action control and discusses the question whether young children understand other persons’ actions after they understand their own actions as assumed by the traditional accounts or whether young children come to understand their own actions after they understand other persons’ actions.