Imitative Exchanges Research Articles

The Social Function of Imitation in Development

Imitation is a deeply social process. Here, I review evidence that children use imitation as a means by which to affiliate with others. For example, children imitate the actions of others more closely when they seek a positive social relationship with them and respond positively to being imitated. Furthermore, children infer something of the relationships between third parties by observing their imitative exchanges. Understanding the social nature of imitation requires exploring the nature of the social relationships between children and the individuals they imitate. Thus, in addition to discussing children's own goals in imitative situations, I review the social pressures children experience to imitate in particular ways, learning to conform to the conventions and rituals of their group. In the latter part of this article, I discuss the extent to which this perspective on imitation can help us to understand broader topics within social development, including the origins of human cultural differences.

Developmental dyspraxia: A psychiatrist's point of view

Developmental coordination disorders, which consist of developmental dyspraxia, are a frequent reason for consultations in child psychiatry, given their impact on learning. These motor impairments, associated with visuo-spatial difficulties, can also penalize the child in his imitative exchanges and have an impact on social integration. The diversity of the forms of dyspraxia and the polymorphism in clinical presentations require the implementation of a working, multidisciplinary collaboration. Indeed, assessment and understanding of such disorders are part of an approach that is both developmental and integrative, which must take into account the cognitive, linguistic and emotional dimensions inherent to the overall functioning of a child in interaction with their wider environment. This clinical approach must be at the barycenter in a position between psycho-affective (underpinned by a psychodynamic point of view) and a second, more recently nourished knowledge, provided by neurosciences and genetics. Results from this approach will be tailored therapeutic proposals that are adjusted to the singularity of clinical situations that have been encountered.

The intersubjective and transitional function of imitation in early grandparent–infant grandchild interaction

Primary objective: Research has provided evidence of the intersubjective function of imitation in grandparent–infant interaction based on the basic aspects of imitation. This lacks the systematic investigation of behaviour dynamics framing spontaneous imitation. The aim of this study was to compare the dyadic expressive behaviours (vocal, kinetic and vocal–kinetic combinations) preceding and following spontaneous imitative exchanges in grandmother–infant (GM–I) and grandfather–infant (GF–I) interactions. Method: Sixteen infants were video-recorded during spontaneous dyadic interactions with maternal grandmothers and grandfathers at home from the second to the tenth month of life. Results: Before and after imitation, there was a similarity between the GM–I and GF–I interactions, in that: (a) the communicative expressive behaviours predominated over non-communicative behaviours, (b) grandparent vocal/kinetic behaviours predominated over vocal and kinetic behaviours and (c) infant kinetic behaviours predominated over vocal and vocal/kinetic behaviours. Conclusion: It is assumed that imitation serves an intersubjective and transitional function in early grandparent–infant interaction.

Mirror Neuron System and Mentalizing System connect during online social interaction

Two sets of brain areas are repeatedly reported in neuroimaging studies on social cognition: the Mirror Neuron System and the Mentalizing System. The Mirror System is involved in goal understanding and has been associated with several emotional and cognitive functions central to social interaction, ranging from empathy to gestural communication and imitation. The Mentalizing System is recruited in tasks requiring cognitive processes such as self-reference and understanding of other's intentions. Although theoretical accounts for an interaction between the two systems have been proposed, little is known about their synergy during social exchanges. In order to explore this question, we have recorded brain activity by means of functional MRI during live social exchanges based on reciprocal imitation of hand gestures. Here, we investigate, using the method of psychophysiological interaction, the changes in functional connectivity of the Mirror System due to the conditions of interest (being imitated, imitating) compared with passive observation of hand gestures. We report a strong coupling between the Mirror System and the Mentalizing System during the imitative exchanges. Our findings suggest a complementary role of the two networks during social encounters. The Mirror System would engage in the preparation of own actions and the simulation of other's actions, while the Mentalizing System would engage in the anticipation of the other's intention and thus would participate to the co-regulation of reciprocal actions. Beyond a specific effect of imitation, the design used offers the opportunity to tackle the role of role-switching in an interpersonal account of social cognition.

Comparing Spontaneous Imitation in Grandmother-Infant and Mother-Infant Interaction: A Three Generation Familial Study

The aim of this longitudinal and naturalistic study was to compare aspects of imitative exchanges in dyadic grandmother-infant and mother-infant interactions. Sixteen Cretan Greek infants were video-recorded in the course of spontaneous dyadic interactions with maternal grandmothers or with mothers at home from the 2nd to the 10th month of their life (N=48). The present study provides evidence that in interaction between grandmothers and infant grandchildren and between mothers and infants, there is similarity in the frequency, the structure, the direction of imitation, the kind of imitated acts, and the temporal patterns of the components of imitation. Infants' age was found to affect the developmental curve of grandmothers', but not mothers', imitative behavior. In the frame of the theory of innate intersubjectivity, we assume that similarity in these aspects of imitation may be related to invariant fundamental dimensions of Significant Other-infant communication ("kinematics" (temporal patterns), "physiognomics" (forms) and "energetics" (effort)). These similarities may have implications for both grandmothers' and infants' ability to regulate interpersonal challenges within an extended-family interactional context.

Exploring Spontaneous Imitation in Infancy: A Three Generation Inter-Familial Study

With the aim to advance our understanding regarding the role of the extended family interactional context for early mother-infant communication, we compared spontaneous early imitative exchanges in dyadic interactions between mothers and infants (Group 1, N = 26) who had no frequent contact with maternal grandmothers, to imitations in two familial subgroups (Group 2, N = 48): (a) dyadic interactions of infants with their mothers, and (b) with their grandmothers–persons who had frequent contact with the infant. Spontaneous dyadic interactions of infants with their mothers and grandmothers were video-recorded at home from the 2nd to the 10th month of their life. Both comparisons provided evidence of similar frequency of imitative exchanges and developmental trajectories of infant imitations, but also differences in the structure of imitation, the kinds of imitated behaviors and the temporal patterns of imitative components. In the frame of the theory of Innate Intersubjectivity, we assume that differential early family interaction may be related to variations in three fundamental dimensions of infant-significant other communication: “kinematics” (temporal patterns), “physiognomics” (spatial patterns or forms) and “energetics” (force or effort). These variations may affect the child’s ability for regulation and negotiation of interpersonal challenges within and outside the family context.

Children’s synchrony and rhythmicity in imitation of peers: Toward a developmental model of empathy

The main mechanisms of children’s imitative exchanges with peers are highlighted here through a developmental approach taking into account the importance of rhythmicity and synchrony. We focused on spontaneous motor imitation to describe a playful dynamic that is paradoxical: in the experience of play in which roles are not clearly distributed, mutual discovery of the self and others gradually arises. From an integrative perspective, this form of interaction, produced by positional reversal and turn taking, is apprehended through two axis. On the temporal plan, it can be considered as a rhythmic pattern with repetition and synchrony. Moreover, these mutual exchanges between the self and others challenge visuo-spatial abilities in children who must be able to change their reference point through an operation of mental rotation. Based on this description of the intersubjective experience produced through a succession of spatial and symbolic viewpoint changes, a developmental model of empathy is offered and discussed. According to this model, the capacity of empathy has two dimensions, emotional and cognitive, and is understood as a process involved in child development. In this article, we propose that empathy is more than the “mere” capacity of decentration corresponding to the acquisition of a theory of mind. It involves an individual in relationship with others and who has the ability to integrate perspectives.

Basic aspects of infant–grandparent ‘interaction’: an eight‐month longitudinal and naturalistic study

This longitudinal and naturalistic study aims to describe basic aspects of early imitative exchanges in dyadic infant–grandfather and infant–grandmother free interactions, from the second to the 10th month of age. Sixteen infants were video‐recorded at home in the course of spontaneous dyadic interactions with maternal grandfathers and grandmothers; imitative interaction was characterised during off‐line analysis of video‐recordings. During interaction of infants with grandfathers and grandmothers, there was similarity in: (1) the frequency and the rate of imitation; (2) the structure of imitation, the number of turn‐takings and the kind of co‐actions; (3) the kind of imitated acts, totally and separately, the kind of imitated body movements, non‐speech sounds, facial expressions and combinations; and (4) the temporal patterns of the components of turn‐taking imitation. Differences were found for: (1) the direction of imitation, and (2) the linguistic nature of vocal imitations. Both grandfathers and grandmothers offer infants a sense of partner stability with similar and predictable actions and interactions – as evidenced by the similarities, as well as a variety of challenging communications – evidenced by the differences. It is assumed that grandfathers are as capable and sensitive as imitators and communicative partners as are grandmothers and parents.

"Social" robots are psychological agents for infants: a test of gaze following.

Gaze following is a key component of human social cognition. Gaze following directs attention to areas of high information value and accelerates social, causal, and cultural learning. An issue for both robotic and infant learning is whose gaze to follow. The hypothesis tested in this study is that infants use information derived from an entity's interactions with other agents as evidence about whether that entity is a perceiver. A robot was programmed so that it could engage in communicative, imitative exchanges with an adult experimenter. Infants who saw the robot act in this social-communicative fashion were more likely to follow its line of regard than those without such experience. Infants use prior experience with the robot's interactions as evidence that the robot is a psychological agent that can see. Infants want to look at what the robot is seeing, and thus shift their visual attention to the external target.

The neural mechanisms of reciprocal communication

Imitation in humans has been attributed to increased activation of the mirror neuron system, but there is no neural model to explain reciprocal communication. In this study, we investigated whether reciprocal, communicative, imitative exchanges activate the same neural system as imitation of simple movements, and whether the neural network subserving communication is lateralized. Fifteen participants were tested using functional magnetic resonance imaging with an online interactive-imitative paradigm while they performed finger movements for three different purposes: (1) to imitate the experimenter, (2) to elicit an imitation from the experimenter, and (3) to simply perform the movement. Subtraction analysis (imitation > movement, initiation > movement) revealed the activation of a strongly lateralized network, where the infra-parietal lobule (IPL) activation was lateralized to the left, while the infero-frontal gyrus (IFG) activation was to the right. It is concluded that imitation in a communicative paradigm recruits a lateralized network, with left fronto- and right parietal activation, that overlaps with a network that subserves understanding of an Other's intentions in relation to the Self. This finding lends plausibility to the suggestion that the neural network for imitation evolved to support interpersonal communication.

A cross-cultural study on early vocal imitative phenomena in different relationships

The present study constitutes an effort to extend our understanding of the universality of vocal imitative exchanges. It aimed to investigate early vocal imitative phenomena in different countries and relationships. In particular, several basic aspects of vocal imitation, such as frequency across the age range of the study, structure, the linguistic nature, the direction and the temporal patterns of it, were micro-analysed, and compared in spontaneous dyadic interactions of fathers and mothers with their infant boys and girls in Scotland and Greece. Fifteen infants (eight boys and seven girls) born in Crete, Greece, and 15 infants (eight boys and seven girls) born in Edinburgh, Scotland, were observed in dyadic interactions with their mothers and fathers at home from the second to the sixth month of their life at 15-day intervals. It was found that: • most aspects of vocal imitation differ between Greece and Scotland; • the frequency of vocal imitation across the age range of the study, the structure (turn-takings, co-actions, multiple series), the linguistic nature (vowels, consonants, vowel-consonant combinations), and the durations of imitative interactions, but not the imitative direction (who imitates whom) were found to differ between girls and boys; • maternal and paternal vocal imitative exchanges were found to be different, rather than similar. It is suggested that vocal imitation constitutes a flexible mode of intersubjective communication that reflects differences in the styles and patterns of interaction of certain relationships and cultures.

Basic aspects of vocal imitation in infant-parent interaction during the first 6 months

The aim of the present longitudinal and naturalistic study was to explore and describe several basic aspects of early vocal imitative exchanges in infant-father and infant-mother free interactions. Fifteen infants, born in Crete, were observed with their mothers and fathers at home from the 2nd to the 6th month of their life. It was found that several basic aspects of vocal imitation, such as frequency, structure, the direction and the duration of components of imitative interactions (e.g. modelling, pause, imitation and total duration) did not differ significantly in interactions of infants with their fathers and mothers, although the linguistic nature of some sounds imitated differed in maternal and paternal interactions. The implications of these results are discussed in terms of mothers' and fathers' imitative ability and sensitivity to infant utterances and the intersubjective nature of vocal imitation.