Mirror image and self-recognition in young human infants: I. A method of experimental analysis.

Abstract

AbstractThe infant's responses to his mirror image have been viewed as indices of self'recognition, but a lack of experimental evidence has caused contradictory conclusions on the beginning of self'recognition. The authors suggest that infants may respond to several factors in the mirror image: eye'to'eye contact, contingency of the image on their own behavior, a smiling face, another babyish being or another human being in general, and the identity of the image with their concept of self. A method for the study of these factors is described. The mirror image was replaced with a televised self‐image which was presented simultaneously with another matching image in a 2‐choice preference design. The discriminant variables between both images equate individual factors of the mirror image in individual modifications of the method. In this pilot study of eleven 5‐month‐old infants, the basic methodological questions were solved, and the first attempt was made to evaluate the roles of eye‐to‐eye contact and of mirror‐image contingency.