To interpret an observed action as goal-directed one can make use of two types of information in a given situation. One type of information consists of the observation that, to achieve the goal, the actor adjusts the action to the situational constraints ("means selection"). The other type of information is the availability of
alternative outcomes and the expression of a preference for a particular outcome by the actor's action ("outcome selection"). I will talk about three studies in which we investigated the relationship between the two types of information in infants' goal attribution. The first study showed that ambiguous means selection information prevents infants from relying on unambiguous outcome selection information to interpret an action as goal-directed. The second study demonstrated that infants can transfer their goal-directed action interpretation from a situation that contains only means selection information to a situation in which outcome selection information becomes available. The third study indicated that infants' anticipatory looking toward the outcome of an action is influenced by the ambiguity of means selection information. Together, these studies suggest that means selection information takes primacy over outcome selection information in infants' interpretation of actions.