Altercentric memory error at 9 months but correct object memory by 18 months revealed in infants’ pupil

It was recently proposed that infants have a memory bias for events witnessed together with others. This may allow infants to prioritize encoding information relevant to others and predict their actions, despite limited processing capacities. However, when events occur in the absence of others, for example an object changes location, this would lead to altercentric memory errors where infants misremember the object’s location where others last saw it. Here, we tested this theory empirically by showing infants aged 9 and 18 months (N = 176) videos of an agent watching an object move to one of two hiding locations. The object then moved from location A to B, which the agent either missed (leading to her false belief) or witnessed (true belief). The object subsequently reappeared either at its actual or, surprisingly, its initial location. As predicted by the altercentric theory, 9-month-old infants expected the object where the agent falsely believed it to be and not where it really was, as indicated in their pupil dilation. In contrast, 18-months-olds remembered the object’s actual location. Infants’ memory errors did not predict correct action anticipation when the agent reached into one of the locations to retrieve the object. Thus, infants showed altercentric memory errors at a young age, which vanished in the second year of life. Instead of fostering action prediction, we suggest that this early bias helps young infants to learn from others. As infants become more capable of acting on the world, their own perspective gains importance over that of others.