ABSTRACT
In the literature generally, "joint attention" is used for cases in which two or more people are jointly attending perceptually to one and the same object or scene. This chapter argues that joint attention scenarios provide cases of communication that seem more basic than can be modeled in terms of Gricean intentions. Joint attention seems to play a significant role in the development of children. Children are of course usually intensely social from the moment of their birth. In the most basic case of joint attention, in which child and caregiver are focused on a single object and exchanging looks and glances about it, there is something freewheeling about the interaction. A simple way to get away from the picture of joint attention as driven by the intentions of the participants is to consider cases in which joint attention seems to be largely driven exogenously.
