The Development of Rational Imitation in 9‐ and 12‐Month‐Old Infants

Abstract

Studies on rational imitation have provided evidence for the fact that infants as young as 12 months of age engage in rational imitation. However, the developmental onset of this ability is unclear. In this study, we investigated whether 9‐ and 12‐month‐olds detect voluntary and implicit as well as nonvoluntary and explicit constraints in the head touch task. Three groups of infants watched video sequences, which displayed a person illuminating a lamp using the head. The hands of the model were either free, occupied by voluntarily holding a blanket, or nonvoluntarily restrained by being tied to the table. An additional control group of infants watched the model turning on the lamp by using the hand. Given that the majority of infants imitated the head touch when the model's hands were free, there was evidence for rational imitation in comparison to the condition in which the model's hands were tied to the table, but not in comparison to the condition in which the hands were occupied by holding a blanket. Nine‐month‐olds showed no differences in their behavior according to the condition. These findings clarify the onset of rational imitation by showing that 12‐month‐olds (but not 9‐month‐olds) take into account a situational constraint only when the constraint is nonvoluntary and explicit.

Reasoning about Instrumental and Communicative Agency in Human Infancy

“…(For further confirmation of the influence of social communicative contexts on selective imitation in 12-and 14-month olds, cf. Buttelmann, Carpenter, Call, & Tomasello, 2008;Kir aly, 2009;Kir aly, Csibra, & Gergely, 2004;Schwier, van Maanen, Carpenter, & Tomasello, 2006;Zmyj, Daum, & Aschersleben, 2009. ) While the model's choice of the head action seems rational in the handsoccupied context, so does the infants' choice to (nonimitatively) emulate the agent's goal by selecting a more efficient means action available to them (whose hands were unoccupied).…”

Fourteen-Month-Olds Adapt Their Imitative Behavior in Light of a Model’s Constraints

“…The task would be, however, suitable for 12-month-olds (the youngest age group to date wherein selective imitative behavior has been observed [4]), as some children master the skill of walking around their first birthday [36]. Applying the identical tasks in order to reveal whether selective imitative behavior is present in an adaptable form even at 12 months of age or whether this aspect of the skill develops after infants' first birthday would shed more light into the ontogenetic development of the adaptability of selective imitation.…”

“…These studies established a continuous increase in the ability to switch with a significant leap improvement at around one year of age (see, e.g., [21]), which is the age at which infants start to engage in selective imitation, when tested in a between-subjects design [4]. Therefore, the question arises as to whether a similar flexibility is present in their imitative behavior.…”

“…It has been found that 12-to 18-month-old infants learn one to two novel actions every day, merely by observing others around them [2]. Rather than imitating everything and everyone, however, infants tend to be selective in their imitative behavior, a tendency that is present from around 12 months of age [3,4]. Several factors influence infants' rates of imitation, some of which concern the action itself (for action component saliency see [5]), but also the context in which the action is presented (for pedagogical versus nonpedagogical context see [6]; for the role of emotional feedback on an action see [7]), as well as the model's previously displayed competence [8] and her group membership [9].…”

Perception of Parental Love in 4-6 Year-Old Children

“…During this process; it is a natural outcome that emotional expressions similar to those in adults may emerge (Gergely et al, 2002;Gergely & Watson, 1996& 1999Zmyj et al, 2009). Therefore;…”