Five-month-old infants were presented the following scenario:

Three objects were presented: a simple green box, a dotted cone, and a striped cylinder. The green box was able to move on its own in a straight line towards the other objects; thus, it is considered an eyeless agent. There were two conditions in the habituation phase. In the hidden condition, the cone was visible to the agent while the cylinder was hidden behind a tall wall. In the non-hidden condition, the wall was shorter than the cylinder, so both objects were visible to the agent. In both conditions, the infant could see both objects.

First, the eyeless agent approached the cone, regardless of the condition. Infants were habituated to this scene. In the display trial, the wall was removed, and the objects switched locations. In the test trial, the eyeless agent either approached the cone in the new location (old-object condition) or the cylinder in the old location (new-object condition).

Infants looked longer when the eyeless agent approached the cylinder if the cylinder was visible to the agent in the habituation phase.  In contrast, when cylinder was hidden to the eyeless agent in the habituation phase, there was no significant difference in the looking time when it approached the cylinder.

The authors’ interpretation of the results was that infants attributed the agent’s approach to the cylinder, when it had visual access to both objects, as a preference for the cylinder. So, infants did not look longer when the cylinder was previously hidden by the wall. Infants are capable of mental attribution, even to an eyeless agent. This fact made me think of something in Japanese culture called "Yokai."

In shinto, everything is assumed to have a life.

In Shinto, which is the indigenous religion in Japan, everything is assumed to be alive. This animism is deeply rooted in Japanese culture and still persists to this day. Today, you can find characters who have eyes and a month, representing stationary goods, utensils, appliances, etc.

In the Edo period, people created imagery creatures which were called "Yokai." Yokai live everywhere around us: in rivers, mountains, and even in our homes. Yokai may seem like a funny concept to outsiders, but they are often considered to be eerie. While they are generally considered harmless, if humans anger them, they are thought to get even by causing something bad to happen to humans, such as famine or plague.

In Shinto, all Items around us such as cups, utensils and clothing, are thought to have spirits. If you are not respectful to these things, they turn into Yokai and cause mischief. This imagery has been orally transmitted over centuries through storytelling so that people would never be respectful to items around them. Notably, it is interesting that this animism-like-cognition might start from early development. Nowadays, we are facing many problems caused by a lack of respect for the things around us. How about bringing back the idea of Yokai and being more respectful?

Reference

Choi, Y., Luo, Y., & Baillargeon, R. (2022). Can 5‐month‐old infants consider the perspective of a novel eyeless agent? New evidence for early mentalistic reasoning. Child development, 93, 571-581.

Luo, Y., & Baillargeon, R. (2005). Can a self-propelled box have a goal? Psychological reasoning in 5-month-old infants. Psychological Science, 16, 601-608.

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