Imitation In Children Research Articles

Popular Culture in Social Media & Online Games: Between Morality, Fear, and Expectations from Families and Schools

Aim. This article aims to present the meanings given by families and schools in viewing popular culture in social media and online games, and the implications for children. Important questions in this study include the relevance of educational values, concerns, fears and hopes of families and schools in viewing popular culture today. Methods. Phenomenology to explore how families and schools interpret the presence of popular culture in children's lives. Results. Families and schools agree that compared to the positive benefits, popular culture has more negative effects on children. Concerns related to children's imitation nature, such as imitating various popular content on social media and online games and practising them in the real world. Families and schools fear of negative popular content will appear algorithmically and randomly on children's social media or online game homepages. All parties hope that the Indonesian government has the firmness to limit the intensity of use and the type of content consumed by children. Conclusion. Popular culture is inseparable from children's lives today, as social media and online games have become new spaces for them. Despite knowing this, families and schools still suffer from worry and fear of the negative effects of popular culture on children. The control exercised by families and schools still provides a gap for negative popular culture to enter when children operate social media and online games. Therefore, moral teachings are needed for families and schools to ask the government to be actively involved in limiting children's consumption of popular culture.

Sibling-Mediated Early Start Denver Model Support for Young Autistic Children

Young autistic children and their siblings often need support to play and engage with each other. The inclusion of older siblings in the provision of support may improve outcomes for autistic children and strengthen the sibling relationship. This study evaluated the inclusion of older siblings in the delivery of Early Start Denver Model (ESDM) support to autistic children aged between 3 and 4 years. It used a non-concurrent multiple baseline across participants design to evaluate the effects of sibling-mediated ESDM for four young autistic children and their older, non-autistic siblings. For most dyads, there were improvements in autistic child engagement and in sibling initiations during the sibling-mediated ESDM, which were generally maintained at follow-up. There was some improvement in sibling responses and minimal improvement in autistic child imitation and functional utterances. Sibling initiations and responses were generally positively correlated with autistic child engagement, functional utterances, and imitation. The parents of children in all four dyads found the sibling-mediated ESDM to be acceptable. These preliminary results suggest that sibling-mediated ESDM may be beneficial for improving the interaction between autistic children and their non-autistic siblings while benefits for teaching additional child skills might be more limited.

The efficacy of picture vs. word danger cues in reducing imitation of dangerous actions in children.

Children are naturally curious and often have limited self-control, leading them to imitate both safe and dangerous actions. This study aimed to investigate whether dangerous cues could effectively inhibit children's imitation of hazardous behaviors and to compare the effectiveness of picture cues versus word cues in reducing this imitation. Seventy-six children were divided into two groups: one group received picture cues, and the other received word cues. Both groups observed an agent grasping an object and were instructed to perform a corresponding keystroke response when a number appeared. A comparable group of adults was also included for reference. The results demonstrated that picture cues were significantly more effective than word cues in reducing the children's tendency to imitate dangerous actions. These findings suggest that picture cues are a more effective method for preventing imitation of risky behaviors in children, which has important implications for improving safety education and accident prevention strategies through the use of visual danger cues.

Higher or lower? Interpersonal behavioral and neural synchronization of movement imitation in autistic children.

How well autistic children can imitate movements and how their brain activity synchronizes with the person they are imitating have been understudied. The current study adopted functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) hyperscanning and employed a task involving real interactions involving meaningful and meaningless movement imitation to explore the fundamental nature of imitation as a dynamic and interactive process. Experiment 1 explored meaningful and meaningless gesture imitation. The results revealed that autistic children exhibited lower imitation accuracy and behavioral synchrony than non-autistic children when imitating both meaningful and meaningless gestures. Specifically, compared to non-autistic children, autistic children displayed significantly higher interpersonal neural synchronization (INS) in the right inferior parietal lobule (r-IPL) (channel 12) when imitating meaningful gestures but lower INS when imitating meaningless gestures. Experiment 2 further investigated the imitation of four types of meaningless movements (orofacial movements, transitive movements, limb movements, and gestures). The results revealed that across all four movement types, autistic children exhibited significantly lower imitation accuracy, behavioral synchrony, and INS in the r-IPL (channel 12) than non-autistic children. This study is the first to identify INS as a biomarker of movement imitation difficulties in autistic individuals. Furthermore, an intra- and interindividual imitation mechanism model was proposed to explain the underlying causes of movement imitation difficulties in autistic individuals.

Impact of a Brief Parenting Intervention on Parent and Infant Imitation

Research examining the effect of behavioral parenting interventions, such as parent–child interaction therapy (PCIT), on parent and child imitation is limited despite known benefits to early child development. We examined the effect of a brief, home-based adaptation of PCIT, the Infant Behavior Program (IBP), on changes in observed frequency of parent and infant imitation, moderating effects of parent language (English, Spanish), and mediational effects of parent and infant imitation on the effect of intervention on infant behavior problems. Participants were 60 12- to 15-month-olds with elevated behavior problems and their primary caregiver, all of which were mothers. Parent–infant dyads were randomly assigned to receive either the IBP or standard pediatric primary care. Parents receiving the IBP demonstrated significantly higher rates of observed imitation at postintervention and at the 3-month follow-up compared to those receiving standard care, and the effect at postintervention was stronger for English-speaking than for Spanish-speaking families. Although the IBP did not directly affect changes in infant imitation at postintervention or the 3-month follow-up, rates of infant imitation increased significantly for those who received the IBP at the 6-month follow-up. Additionally, moderation results suggested that the IBP led to improvements in infant imitation at post for Spanish-speaking families but not for English-speaking families. There were no significant mediational effects of parent or infant imitation. Future research is needed to examine the impact of increases in imitation on other aspects of child development, such as social–cognitive and language abilities, and to examine how cultural factors may play a role in individual differences in imitation.

Automatic imitation in children: Age-related change and comparison to adults.

Automatic imitation, in which one person's movement is affected by the observation of another person's movements, has been widely reported. However, it remains unclear how automatic imitation changes over a wide age range, particularly during childhood. In this study, we examined the differences in the tendency for automatic imitation between adults and children and the cross-sectional age-related changes in children aged 5-12 years, using a stimulus-response conflict paradigm. In this task, participants perform a choice-reactive finger movement corresponding to a given response stimulus while observing another participant's compatible or incompatible movement stimuli. The tendency for automatic imitation was assessed based on the reaction time, correct rate, and inverse efficiency score. The results showed that the degree of automatic imitation was weak until the children were 7 years old. Interestingly, our results show that the tendency for automatic imitation during childhood changed to an inverted U-shape, indicating nonlinear changes in automatic imitation during childhood. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Children's distinct drive to reproduce costly rituals.

Costly rituals are ubiquitous and adaptive. Yet, little is known about how children develop to acquire them. The current study examined children's imitation of costly rituals. Ninety-three 4-6 year olds (47 girls, 45% Oceanians, tested in 2022) were shown how to place tokens into a tube to earn stickers, using either a ritualistic or non-ritualistic costly action sequence. Children shown the ritualistic actions imitated faithfully at the expense of gaining stickers; conversely, those shown the non-ritualistic actions ignored them and obtained maximum reward. This highlights how preschool children are adept at and motivated to learn rituals, despite significant material cost. This study provides insights into the early development of cultural learning and the adaptive value of rituals in group cognition.

Automatic imitation in school-aged children

Children imitate others for different reasons: To learn from others and to reach social goals such as affiliation or prosociality. So far, imitative acts have been measured using diverging methods in children and adults. Here, we investigated whether school-aged children’s imitation can be measured via their automatic imitation with a classical imitation-inhibition task (Brass et al., 2000) as has been used in adults. To this end, we measured automatic imitation in N=94 7–8-year-olds and N=10 adults. The results were similar in children and adults: Observing actions that are incongruent with participants’ actions interferes with their responses resulting in increased reaction times and error rates. This shows that assessing automatic imitation via the imitation-inhibition task is feasible in children, and creates the basis for future studies to compare the behaviour of different age groups with the same imitation task.

Brief Report: Telehealth Music-Enhanced Reciprocal Imitation Training in Autism: A Single-Subject Feasibility Study of a Virtual Parent Coaching Intervention.

Telehealth delivery increases accessibility of parent-mediated interventions that teach parents skills and support autistic children's social communication. Reciprocal Imitation Training (RIT), an evidence-based Naturalistic Developmental Behavioral Intervention (NDBI) focused on imitation skills, a common difficulty in autism, holds promise for telehealth-based parent training. Imitation is also a core component of musical play during childhood and the affordances of musical play/song naturally shape parent-child interactions. We evaluate the feasibility of a music-based, telehealth adaptation of RIT-music-enhanced RIT (tele-meRIT)-as a novel format for coaching parents in NDBI strategies. This single-subject, multiple baseline design study included 4 autistic children (32-53months old) and their mothers. Parent-child dyads were recorded during 10-min free play probes at baseline, weekly tele-meRIT sessions, and one-week and one-month follow-up. Probes were coded for parents' RIT implementation fidelity, parent vocal musicality, and children's rate of spontaneous imitation. No parent demonstrated implementation fidelity during baseline. All parents increased their use of RIT strategies, met fidelity by the end of treatment, and maintained fidelity at follow-up. Parent vocal musicality also increased from baseline. Intervention did not consistently increase children's imitation skills. A post-intervention evaluation survey indicated high parent satisfaction with tele-meRIT and perceived benefits to their children's social and play skills more broadly. Implementing tele-meRIT is feasible. Although tele-meRIT additionally involved coaching in incorporating rhythmicity and song into play interactions, parents achieved fidelity in the RIT principles, suggesting one avenue by which music can be integrated within evidence-based parent-mediated NDBIs.

“The chug is coming through!” “There's two chuggas!”: A longitudinal study of the social function of imitation in children's play with siblings and friends

AbstractImitation is argued to have an important affiliative function in social relationships. However, children's tendency to imitate different play partners during naturalistic play and associations with social understanding have been overlooked. We investigated the frequency and context of imitation in a longitudinal study of 65 focal children (T1: M age = 56.4 months, SD = 5.71) during play with their older or younger sibling and a friend in two separate play sessions. Children were observed again approximately 3 years later (T2: n = 46, M age = 94.6 months; SD = 6.6). We coded focal children's verbal and nonverbal imitation of their play partner, their partner's response to being imitated, the context in which imitation occurred (e.g., pretense), and the focal child's social understanding (i.e., mental state references). Verbal imitation occurred more often than nonverbal imitation and was used most often during the contexts of play negotiations and pretense. Although focal children's imitation of both their siblings and friends increased significantly over time, children imitated friends more than siblings at T1. All play partners responded positively (i.e., smiling, laughing) most often to being imitated. Associations between focal child imitation and mental state talk with friends at T2 approached significance. Our findings provide a deeper understanding of the nature of imitation during children's play interactions and support assertions that imitation is a process whereby children build affiliation, mutuality, and shared meanings in their relationships.

Children over-imitate adults and peers more than puppets.

Researchers commonly use puppets in development science. Amongst other things, puppets are employed to reduce social hierarchies between child participants and adult experimenters akin to peer interactions. However, it remains controversial whether children treat puppets like real-world social partners in these settings. This study investigated children's imitation of causally irrelevant actions (i.e., over-imitation) performed by puppet, adult, or child models. Seventy-two German children (AgeRange =4.6-6.5 years; 36 girls) from urban, socioeconomically diverse backgrounds observed a model retrieving stickers from reward containers. The model performed causally irrelevant actions either in contact with the reward container or not. Children were more likely to over-imitate adults' and peers' actions as compared to puppets' actions. Across models, they copied contact actions more than no-contact actions. While children imitate causally irrelevant actions from puppet models to some extent, their social learning from puppets does not necessarily match their social learning from real-world social agents, such as children or adults. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: We examined children's over-imitation from adult, child, and puppet models to validate puppetry as an approach to simulate non-hierarchical interactions. Children imitated adults and child models at slightly higher rates than puppets. This effect was present regardless of whether the irrelevant actions involved physical contact to the reward container or not. In our study children's social learning from puppets does not match their social learning from human models.

Trajectoires développementales des différentes formes d’imitation et de leurs relations avec le développement cognitif et communicatif chez des enfants présentant un TSA

ObjectiveThe idea of a global imitation deficit in autism has existed for many years. Actually, a growing body of research is nuancing this idea by showing that even children with the most severe autistic profiles are able to imitate under certain conditions. However, we do not yet have longitudinal data on the developmental trajectories of different forms of imitation in children with ASD. So, the aim of the present study is: 1) to investigate the developmental trajectories of spontaneous imitation, elicited imitation, and imitation recognition in children with ASD; 2) to identify intra-individual factors associated with measured imitative performance; and 3) to examine the relationships between each of the three forms of imitation assessed and cognitive and communicative development. MethodsFourteen children with ASD aged between 3 years 8 months and 9 years 4 months were included in this study. A longitudinal experimental design involving three measurement times over a 16-month period was implemented. Nadel's imitation scale was used to assess spontaneous imitation, elicited imitation and imitation recognition. The Psycho-Educational Profile and the Snijders-Oonen non-verbal intelligence test were administered to assess cognitive and communicative development. ResultsChildren made significant progress over time on each of the three components of imitation, although we noted a heterogeneity of the developmental trajectories. The greatest gains were in elicited imitation. Motor skills, cognitive level and intensity of autistic behaviors at the beginning of the study significantly correlated with children's later imitative skills. Chronological age, however, was not. Cognitive and communicative development correlated more strongly with spontaneous imitation and imitation recognition than with elicited imitation. ConclusionRegardless of their age, children with ASD can progress in different forms of imitation. This underlines the value of regularly evaluating their skills in this area, in particular to offer them an individualized training program. On this point, our results illustrate the need not to train exclusively elicited imitation, but also to support communication through imitation.

Effects of Movement-Based Interventions on Imitation and Praxis Skills in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Comparison of Face-to-Face Versus Telehealth Modes of Delivery

Background Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) exhibit poor imitation, movement planning, and praxis skills that in turn compound their core social communication and behavioral difficulties. Objective Our randomized controlled trial compares the effects of 2 whole-body movement interventions (creative movement [“Play”] and general exercise [“Move”]) to those of a seated play standard-of-care intervention (“Create”) on imitation and praxis skills in children with ASD. As part of this clinical trial, we also compare face-to-face (F2F) versus telehealth (TH) modes of intervention delivery in each of the three groups. Methods A total of 44 children with ASD aged between 5 and 14 years participated in this 10-week study. Children were matched at baseline and assigned to the Play, Move, or Create groups (n=14-15/group). Approximately half of the children in each group were seen F2F, while the other half were seen via TH. Training was provided 2 times/week (60-90 minutes/session) for 8 weeks. We administered the Bilateral Motor Coordination (BMC) and Postural Praxis (PP) subtests of the Sensory Integration and Praxis Test (SIPT) at pretest and posttest and assessed spatial and temporal errors in movement execution during both tests. We calculated the percent total imitation error score for both subtests. Results For the SIPT-PP, we found a reduction in percent total errors from pretest to posttest in the Play (pretest: mean 15.8%, SE 1.1%; posttest: mean 12.9%, SE 1.1%; P≤.05), Move (pretest: mean 17.1%, SE 1.4%; posttest: mean 14.8%, SE 1.2%; P≤.05), and Create groups (pretest: mean 16.5%, SE 1.5%; posttest: mean 12.7%, SE 1.7%; P≤.05). There were no statistically significant differences in the percent reduction in total errors among children seen F2F versus via TH in the Play (F2F: mean 3.4%, SE 1.5%; TH: mean 2.4%, SE 2.1%; P=.72), Move (F2F: mean 2.6%, SE 1.6%; TH: mean 2.1%, SE 1.5%; P=.84), and Create groups (F2F: mean 6.1%, SE 1.2%; TH: mean 3.4%, SE 1.8%; P=.22). For the SIPT-BMC, children significantly reduced their percent total error scores from pretest to posttest in the Play group (pretest: mean 8.6%, SE 2.4%; posttest: mean 3.9%, SE 0.7%; P≤.05) but not in the Move and Create groups. Specifically, children in the Play group improved on spatial errors (pretest: mean 9.1%, SE 1.9%; posttest: mean 5.4%, SE 1.2%; P≤.05) and also showed a nonsignificant trend for improvement in temporal errors (pretest: mean 9.2%, SE 3.3%; posttest: mean 3.1%, SE 0.6%; P=.06). Similar to the SIPT-PP, we found no significant differences in the percent reduction in total errors among children seen F2F versus via TH (F2F: mean 2.0%, SE 1.5%; TH: mean 7.3%, SE 3.8%; P=.23). Conclusions Our pilot data suggest that imitation-based gross and fine motor training activities led to improved postural imitation skills in children with ASD across all 3 groups. However, only the Play group that received rhythmic movement practice improved on the BMC subtest of the SIPT. Our findings suggest that improvements in imitation and praxis skills are highly training-specific in children with ASD. The lack of significant differences between the F2F and TH modes across all groups suggests that TH could be a successful method of intervention delivery for promoting imitation and praxis skills in children with ASD. Conflicts of Interest None declared.

Learning to Exercise by Imitation in Children Aged 6-7

The present study is experimental research, conducted on children aged 6-7 years, included in preparatory classes, based on the learning and implementation of the theoretical and practical information with the help of “live demonstration” and “iconographic demonstration”, therefore relying on imitation. In Physical Education, the quickest and easiest way for children to learn is through imitation. The analysis of the results showed that in the experimental group the use of the “live demonstration" leads to a greater increase in the number of pupils who can memorise and perform more related items than in the control group, which used the iconographic demonstration.

The means of conveying ironic expressivity in N. A. Teffi’s short stories (to the 150th anniversary of the birth)

The article aims to identify the linguistic means (first of all those which can be considered as marking the writer’s individual style) employed in N. A. Teffi’s short stories to convey ironic comicality. The research was performed with the use of the descriptive, linguostylistic, semantic methods, componential analysis, and elements of statistical analysis. As a result, the undertaken study made it possible to identify a wide range of linguistic units belonging to different linguistic levels. The combination of these units and various stylistic devices which were revealed while analysing the expressive speech structure of humorous texts results in the maximal humorous effect. The paper concludes that subtle irony viewed as the dominant expressive colouring of the text in humorous stories by N. Teffi and the device that marks her individual style is created with the help of various linguistic means. These means can be roughly divided into two groups: the basic humour-building and background ones. The latter group facilitates a more obvious manifestation of ironic comicality. The first group includes pun and non-pun means of conveying ironic expressivity. As for non-pun linguistic means, elements of the stylistics of the absurd, paradox, oxymoron, metaphor, metonymy and synecdoche, chiasmus, periphrasis, allusion, ellipsis, parallelism, simile, refrain, radical transformation of phraseological units are characteristic of Teffi’s individual style. With regard to the means of expressing irony build on pun, Teffi employs units of language and speech with identical and similar expression planes. Polysemy, usual and occasional homonymy in combination with such lexical and lexical-phonetic means of explication of phonetized puns as usual and occasional paronomasia and – more rarely – homophony form the lexical basis of semanticised puns. The author often uses amphibology and the literalization of phraseological units to produce ironic punning effect. The second group includes auxiliary means of creating ironic effect: imitation of children’s speech, the technique of speech self-disclosure, citation, macaronic language, spoken colloquial phraseology, colloquialisms and obsolescent grammatical orthoepic variants, charactonyms and parodic surnames.

Research on the Impact of the Emotional Expression of Kindergarten Teachers on Children: From the Perspective of the Class Micro-Power Relationship.

During the preschool years, the socio-emotional responses children receive from interactions with teachers are incorporated into their own social behaviors. This is one of the key ways in which children acquire social and emotional skills. Based on field studies, it can be found that this learning process is not simple imitation of children, but of a more complex context of group interaction. To further clarify the impact of kindergarten teachers’ emotion on the sociometric status and behavior of 3–5 year-old children in their classes, the researchers chose a Montessori mixed-age kindergarten in Beijing as the field site and observed five classes within the kindergarten over a 2-month period in this ethnographic case study. The study found that the power gap between teacher and pupil spreads rapidly to all children in the classroom as a result of the teacher’s emotions, and even stimulates power stratification within the children. In addition, there are differences in the social behaviors between the children of different levels of power. As preschool children are in a critical developmental window when social knowledge is being accumulated and social skills are being acquired, using power relations within the kindergarten classroom as an entry point to analyze the impact of teachers’ emotions on children’s social behavior provides a new breakthrough for the professional development of early childhood education and the better achievement of educational goals.

Culture is an optometrist: Cultural contexts adjust the prescription of social learning bifocals.

The "prescription" of humans' social learning bifocals is fine-tuned by cultural norms and, as a result, the readiness with which the instrumental or conventional lenses are used to view behavior differs across cultures. We present evidence for this possibility from cross-cultural work examining children's imitation and innovation.

The role of social signals in segmenting observed actions in 18-month-old children.

Learning about actions requires children to identify the boundaries of an action and its units. Whereas some action units are easily identified, parents can support children's action learning by adjusting the presentation and using social signals. However, currently, little is understood regarding how children use these signals to learn actions. In the current study, we investigate the possibility that communicative signals are a particularly suitable cue for segmenting events. We investigated this hypothesis by presenting 18-month-old children (N=60) with short action sequences consisting of toy animals either hopping or sliding across a board into a house, but interrupting this two-step sequence either (a) using an ostensive signal as a segmentation cue, (b) using a non-ostensive segmentation cue and (c) without additional segmentation information between the actions. Marking the boundary using communicative signals increased children's imitation of the less salient sliding action. Imitation of the hopping action remained unaffected. Crucially, marking the boundary of both actions using a non-communicative control condition did not increase imitation of either action. Communicative signals might be particularly suitable in segmenting non-salient actions that would otherwise be perceived as part of another action or as non-intentional. These results provide evidence of the importance of ostensive signals at event boundaries in scaffolding children's learning.

Communication in action: Planning and interpreting communicative demonstrations.

Theory of mind enables an observer to interpret others' behavior in terms of unobservable beliefs, desires, intentions, feelings, and expectations about the world. This also empowers the person whose behavior is being observed: By intelligently modifying her actions, she can influence the mental representations that an observer ascribes to her, and by extension, what the observer comes to believe about the world. That is, she can engage in intentionally communicative demonstrations. Here, we develop a computational account of generating and interpreting communicative demonstrations by explicitly distinguishing between two interacting types of planning. Typically, instrumental planning aims to control states of the environment, whereas belief-directed planning aims to influence an observer's mental representations. Our framework extends existing formal models of pragmatics and pedagogy to the setting of value-guided decision-making, captures how people modify their intentional behavior to show what they know about the reward or causal structure of an environment, and helps explain data on infant and child imitation in terms of literal versus pragmatic interpretation of adult demonstrators' actions. Additionally, our analysis of belief-directed intentionality and mentalizing sheds light on the sociocognitive mechanisms that underlie distinctly human forms of communication, culture, and sociality. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Motivación a la lectura en niños de edades tempranas

The action of reading is a complex skill in order to understand the written text. Children tend to present problems when reading, generating difficulties in reading comprehension and affecting their educational performance, the responsibility of stimulating children to read lies with parents, school and society. The objective of this research is to identify those motivational practices towards reading at early ages, exposed by different theoretical references, extracted from updated primary sources, in which positive results are evidenced for the reading habit of children. This research was carried out with a qualitative approach, at a descriptive level, with the documentary bibliographic type, with an analysis of references. The results show that the motivating practices for reading at early ages are those applied by teachers, as well as the imitation of children with parents who have reading habits. Dialogic reading that generates the role of narrator in the child and the use of bibliographic material as a promoter of the relationship between the child and the text. Reading is of vital importance for the promotion of the student's academic quality, magic methods to stimulate reading do not exist and motivating the child properly will have a positive result in his or her intellectual and academic development. The teacher as motivator is the support for the child to assume the reading process; the family is in charge of stimulating reading activity in early childhood; story reading involves children as active readers and writers; the use of library material generates a relationship between the child and the text; and dialogic reading creates an environment of equal reading motivation.