Imitation reconsidered

Fridland, Ellen; Moore, Richard

doi:10.1080/09515089.2014.942896

Cited by 25 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 70 publications

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“…Together, overimitation in children and the differences between human and nonhuman primate copying combine to illustrate the peculiarity of human children when it comes to replicating the detailed strategies or techniques of a demonstrated task. It is this peculiarity that Fridland and Moore () attempt to capture in our definition of imitation by isolating what we call “the technique‐centered orientation.” We claim that true imitation incorporates a particular concern for replicating the detailed strategies or exact procedures of an observed action—a concern which is not reducible to the instrumental value of the procedure and which is not simply a matter of fortuitously reproducing the observed actions . That is, human children are not only motivated to achieve ends or goals but they are also motivated to reproduce means .…”

Section: Imitation Overimitation and The Technique‐centered Orientamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This is because there are many paths towards winning the affection of others or building a stronger connection with them and it is not obvious that imitation is a very good method, never mind the most effective method, for this purpose. For an in‐depth discussion of this point, see Fridland & Moore (, pp. 870–871).…”

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confidence: 99%

“…In Fridland and Moore () we take ourselves to be refining the definition that Tomasello offers (Tomasello, , ; Tomasello et al, ).…”

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confidence: 99%

“…See Meltzoff (), Gergely and Csibra (), and Fridland and Moore () for claims that imitation does not require an overly sophisticated understanding of intentions.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…It may be that the novice does not regard the model as a reliable guide to the custom. It may be that for various rational reasons this person is not taken as authoritative and then no imitation of the demonstration will ensue at all (see footnote 5 above and Fridland and Moore () for a detailed discussion of rational imitation). To be clear, my point here is about what happens after the model is determined to be worthy of copying.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Do as I say and as I do: Imitation, pedagogy, and cumulative culture

Fridland

2018

Mind & Language

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Several theories, which attempt to give an account of cumulative culture, emphasize the importance of high‐fidelity transmission mechanisms as central to human learning. These high‐fidelity transmission mechanisms are thought to account for the ratchet effect, that is, the capacity to inherit modified or improved knowledge and skills rather than having to develop one's skills from the ground up via individual learning. In this capacity, imitation and teaching have been thought to occupy a special place in the explanation of cumulative culture because they are both thought to function as high‐fidelity transmission mechanisms. In contrast to this standard view, I will argue that imitation and teaching are not both best construed as primarily high‐fidelity transmission mechanisms. Rather, I will argue that though both can contribute to the high‐fidelity transmission of information, imitation and teaching make two distinct contributions to cumulative culture. I will claim that imitation functions primarily as a high‐fidelity transmission mechanism while teaching is primarily responsible for the innovation and creativity characteristic of cumulative culture.

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Section: Imitation Overimitation and The Technique‐centered Orientamentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In Fridland and Moore () we take ourselves to be refining the definition that Tomasello offers (Tomasello, , ; Tomasello et al, ).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…See Meltzoff (), Gergely and Csibra (), and Fridland and Moore () for claims that imitation does not require an overly sophisticated understanding of intentions.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Do as I say and as I do: Imitation, pedagogy, and cumulative culture

Fridland

2018

Mind & Language

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Individuals with autism spectrum disorder are impaired in absolute but not relative pitch and duration matching in speech and song imitation

et al. 2021

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Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often exhibit atypical imitation. However, few studies have identified clear quantitative characteristics of vocal imitation in ASD. This study investigated imitation of speech and song in English‐speaking individuals with and without ASD and its modulation by age. Participants consisted of 25 autistic children and 19 autistic adults, who were compared to 25 children and 19 adults with typical development matched on age, gender, musical training, and cognitive abilities. The task required participants to imitate speech and song stimuli with varying pitch and duration patterns. Acoustic analyses of the imitation performance suggested that individuals with ASD were worse than controls on absolute pitch and duration matching for both speech and song imitation, although they performed as well as controls on relative pitch and duration matching. Furthermore, the two groups produced similar numbers of pitch contour, pitch interval‐, and time errors. Across both groups, sung pitch was imitated more accurately than spoken pitch, whereas spoken duration was imitated more accurately than sung duration. Children imitated spoken pitch more accurately than adults when it came to speech stimuli, whereas age showed no significant relationship to song imitation. These results reveal a vocal imitation deficit across speech and music domains in ASD that is specific to absolute pitch and duration matching. This finding provides evidence for shared mechanisms between speech and song imitation, which involves independent implementation of relative versus absolute features. Lay Summary Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often exhibit atypical imitation of actions and gestures. Characteristics of vocal imitation in ASD remain unclear. By comparing speech and song imitation, this study shows that individuals with ASD have a vocal imitative deficit that is specific to absolute pitch and duration matching, while performing as well as controls on relative pitch and duration matching, across speech and music domains.

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“I'm an ogre so I'm very hungry!” “I'm assistant ogre”: The Social Function of Sibling Imitation in Early Childhood

Howe

Rosciszewska

Persram

2017

Infant and Child Development

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Siblings' imitative behaviors were investigated in 39 middle‐class dyads during six 90‐min home sessions at both Time 1 (M age: older sibling = 4.4 years; younger sibling = 2.4 years) and Time 2 (2 years later). Although younger siblings imitated most often at T1 and T2, older siblings' imitation increased proportionally over time in comparison to younger siblings. Findings highlight the affiliative nature of imitation that occurred during reciprocal play interactions, via positive responses, and the content of the imitation. Finally, age was controlled by comparing first‐born siblings aged 4 at T1 to second‐born siblings aged 4 at T2. Findings demonstrated that sibling imitation had distinct characteristics despite the age match and partner effects. Sibling imitation is a dynamic, interactive social behavior and may be a powerful source of learning for young children. Highlights The role of sibling imitation in ongoing play in early childhood is highlighted. Sibling imitation is a dynamic and affiliative behavior that promotes interaction during play. Naturalistic observations of sibling imitation document that it is a powerful source of learning for young children.

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Imitation reconsidered

Cited by 25 publications

References 70 publications

Do as I say and as I do: Imitation, pedagogy, and cumulative culture

Do as I say and as I do: Imitation, pedagogy, and cumulative culture

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder are impaired in absolute but not relative pitch and duration matching in speech and song imitation

“I'm an ogre so I'm very hungry!” “I'm assistant ogre”: The Social Function of Sibling Imitation in Early Childhood

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