Detecting contingency: A key to understanding development of self and social cognition

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Abstract
Abstract:  Detecting contingency between self‐produced actions and the consequences plays a crucial role for basic cognitive functions, such as construction of self body‐image and tool‐use. This paper reviews our recent studies focusing on the temporal aspect of contingency. Three studies concerning the detection of proprioceptive‐visual contingency in infants, children and adults are summarized. All of these studies use delayed self‐image as a tool to investigate the temporal aspect of contingency detection. Based on the results of these studies and related preceding research, the paper proposes the ubiquity of a contingency detector among the development of self and social interaction.