Cog Dev: Gergely: Rational Imitation Preverbal Infants

Front 1

What did this experiment suggest about infants' imitative behaviors?

Back 1

This study thereby suggested that 14-month-old infants are still subject to an automatic emulation-like process whereby the memory of the effect (illumination by touch) activates the response that is most strongly associated with establishing contact (hand action), But, the re-enactment of the head action, when inferred to be rational by the infant, indicates that imitation by the 14 month olds goes beyond emulation.
• Early imitation of goal-directed actions is a selective, inferential process that involves evaluation of the rationality of the means in relation to the constraints of the situation.

Front 2

procedures

Back 2

Condition 1: experimenter pretending to be cold, wrapped a blanket around her, and while holding the blanket around her with her hands, leans forward and turns on the light with her head.

• Condition 2: like Meltzoff's original study. No blanket-experiemnter had hands free and did the same head action to turn on the light box.

Front 3

results

Back 3

21% of infants imitated action in condition 1 (blanket-experimenter hands occupied).

69% of infants imitated the action in condition 2 (no blanket-experimenter had hands free)

Front 4

take away

Back 4

• The reason for the difference in number of infants imitating the head action is due to the infant assumption that they need to have hands free in order to turn on the light box.

So, when infants come in a week later with their hands free, they assume they can do it. But when infants who saw the light box turned on with the experimenter who had hands occupied (with blanket), the infants likely assume they can't do it.

• This study thereby suggested that 14-month-old infants are still subject to an automatic emulation-like process whereby the memory of the effect (illumination by touch) activates the response that is most strongly associated with establishing contact (hand action), But, the re-enactment of the head action, when inferred to be rational by the infant, indicates that imitation by the 14 month olds goes beyond emulation.

Front 5

hypothesis

Back 5

Researched aimed to test out a hypothesis derived from a seminal study by Meltzoff (1988). Meltzoff's prior study found that 14 month olds would replicate an action demonstrated by researchers (turning on a light with head), which was taken as evidence that infants infants noticed that the demonstrator declined to use her hands despite the fact that they were free and therefore concluded that the head action might have some advantage for turning on the light.

Infants therefore used the action themselves in the same situation.

These results highlighted a unique human tendency-imitative learning.

The present study sought to modify this study in order to further validate Meltzoff's explanation of findings.

The researchers were interested in understanding which condition would result in more infants turning on the light box.

Front 6

imitative learning

Back 6

a uniquely human tendency to imitate new strategies to achieve goals. This separates humans from primates as primates (to the best of our knowledge in 2002) do not imitate new strategies-instead, they just use motor actions already in their repotoire to achieve goals.