Abstract
Gergely et al. (2002) reported that children imitated a novel action – illuminating a light-box by using the forehead – after a delay significantly more often if the hands of the experimenter had been visible in comparison with if they had been covered. In an attempt to explore these findings we conducted two studies with a total N of 63 children. Both studies investigated deferred imitation of the action in two conditions, with the hands of the experimenter visible or covered, but the settings differed. Study 1 (n = 30; mean age = 16.6 months) was carried out in an unfamiliar environment (a laboratory setting) while Study 2 (n = 33; mean age = 13.3 months) was conducted in familiar surroundings (at home or at day care). The results showed that 50% of the children in Study 1 and 42.4% in Study 2 evidenced deferred imitation as compared to only 4.9% (n = 2) in the baseline condition. However, in none of the studies did the children use inferential processes when imitating, we detected no significant differences between the two conditions, hands visible or hands covered. The findings add to the validity of the head touch procedure as a measure of declarative-like memory processes in the pre-verbal child. At the same time the findings question the robustness of the concept ‘rational imitation,’ it seems not as easy as expected to elicit a response based on rational inferential processes in this age group.
Highlights
During infancy children rapidly learn new behaviors, develop an understanding of the surrounding world as well as of the complexities of social relationships (Meltzoff et al, 2009; Seehagen and Herbert, 2012)
It is almost 30-years ago that Meltzoff (1988a), in a seminal paper, demonstrated that deferred imitation, a task that measures non-verbal declarative memory, was established at 14-months, well before the 18–24 months age range once suggested by Piaget (1951/1962)
Since numerous studies have confirmed deferred imitation in infancy (e.g., Barr et al, 1996; Heimann and Meltzoff, 1996; Heimann et al, 2006) which has been interpreted as an early sign of declarative memory (Bauer, 2002; Jones and Herbert, 2006)
Summary
During infancy children rapidly learn new behaviors, develop an understanding of the surrounding world as well as of the complexities of social relationships (Meltzoff et al, 2009; Seehagen and Herbert, 2012). One of the vehicles to the child’s disposal for this learning is imitation and especially so deferred imitation which allows a child to learn by observation from very early in life. It is almost 30-years ago that Meltzoff (1988a), in a seminal paper, demonstrated that deferred imitation, a task that measures non-verbal declarative memory, was established at 14-months, well before the 18–24 months age range once suggested by Piaget (1951/1962). As of today observations exist showing that deferred imitation measured early in life is a predictor of both language and cognitive development (e.g., Strid et al, 2006; Riggins et al, 2013; Sundqvist et al, 2016)
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