Spontaneous Imitation Research Articles

Individual uniformity in phonetic imitation: Assessing the stability of individual variability across features and tasks

Extensive individual variability has been reported in both spontaneous phonetic convergence and in explicit phonetic imitation tasks. This work tests the consistency of these individual patterns: are some individuals just globally more imitative, showing greater-than-average imitation regardless of the specific phone being imitated, and regardless of the type of imitation, or does an individual’s extent of imitation depend heavily on the phonetic content or the type of task? We examine the stability of individual variability in imitation of two types of subphonemic differences (VOT of voiceless stops and F2 of the vowels /æ/ and /u/), in two types of imitation tasks (implicit and explicit). We found that individuals' degree of imitation was significantly related across different phones within the same class (e.g., imitation of /p/ vs. /t/) in both implicit and explicit imitation tasks, but that individuals' degree of imitation of phones from different classes (e.g., imitation of stops vs. vowels) was only related in explicit, but not implicit, imitation. Findings are consistent with the idea that general cognitive or personality traits may govern individual variability in explicit imitation, but challenge the idea that they play any measurable role in predicting individual variability in implicit or spontaneous imitation. We also found a weak but significant correspondence between individual performance on the implicit and explicit imitation tasks, providing evidence that the two tasks rely on shared mechanisms, as well as a significant relationship between discrimination performance and explicit, but not implicit, imitation.

Abstract and Acoustic Targets in Phonetic Imitation

ABSTRACTPhonetic imitation (also called convergence or accommodation) occurs when talkers alter their pronunciation towards speech they hear. This can happen spontaneously with only a few minutes of exposure in a laboratory experiment even without instruction to imitate. While there is considerable evidence for spontaneous imitation, in many cases it is not clear exactly which aspects of the model talker are being imitated. It is possible to imitate the raw acoustics of the model's voice or more abstract targets like normalised acoustics of the model's voice, phonological patterns the model exhibits, or speech style. Although there is substantial literature demonstrating convergent speech behaviour, existing work typically does not distinguish between these different types of targets. This has theoretical implications for accounts of imitation and normalisation, methodological significance for analysis of imitation studies, and potential applied significance for how imitation is used in language teaching and clinical speech therapy. This paper will review these issues, discuss the statistical challenges associated with measuring convergence to competing targets, and make methodological recommendations for future studies.

Enhancing Early Intervention For Caregivers of Autistic Children with Online Reciprocal Imitation Training Learning Modules

In this study, we taught caregivers of four young autistic children to implement Reciprocal Imitation Training, a focused naturalistic developmental behavioral intervention (NDBI), using a hybrid approach, combining online modules with in vivo coaching. Early Intervention (Part C) services are often the first to support autistic children; therefore, providers must focus on training caregivers to deliver NDBIs such as RIT, within daily activities that are meaningful to the family in the home. We used a multiple-probe design to examine the effect of home visits enhanced by online modules completed before the coaches’ arrival. Results indicated caregivers acquired intervention procedures effectively after approximately six coaching sessions. While most caregivers maintained acceptable fidelity levels, outcomes for children varied, with mixed results in spontaneous imitation. We discuss considerations for providers delivering NDBIs, including factors that impacted outcomes, barriers to intervention, and recommendations for Part C services.

Relationship between imitation skills and maternal responsiveness for children with autism spectrum disorder: a longitudinal study

Background Imitation is an important developmental skill in terms of social communication with which children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have difficulty. Furthermore, responsiveness is suggested to play an essential role in the development of social communication skills in this population. This necessitates understanding the impact of responsiveness on the development of imitation skills. This observational study examines the longitudinal effect of maternal responsiveness on the development of imitation skills among minimally verbal preschool children with ASD. Methods This observational study used a longitudinal correlational design, which is in the correlational dimension of the quantitative research method. The study involved 31 children aged between 28 and 79 months and their mothers. The children with ASD were assessed for elicited and spontaneous imitation skills using observation-based structured tasks. Additionally, the frequency of maternal responsiveness was measured during an unstructured play session with the mother and child. Results The study found a correlation between verbal and nonverbal maternal responses following the child’s focus of attention and elicited and spontaneous imitation skills. Additionally, after controlling for the severity of autism symptoms, object engagement, or initial imitation performances, it was determined that follow-in directives for behavior and nonverbal responses predicted only spontaneous imitation at Time II, together with the severity of autism symptoms. Conclusions The findings show that maternal responsiveness, particularly in response to the child’s focus of attention, including follow-in directives for behavior and nonverbal responses, is a significant predictor of spontaneous imitation outcomes. Therefore, interventions should target maternal responsiveness, emphasizing the development of spontaneous imitation skills.

Generalization of spontaneous imitation from nonwords to real wordsa).

This study reports that English speakers, after shadowing English-like nonwords beginning on /p/ with extended voice onset time, spontaneously shifted their subsequent reading productions of English words converging toward the shadowing targets. The extent of the imitative changes correlated positively with the speakers' declarative memory of the nonwords, but not with the lexical frequency of the produced words. These findings provide evidence for the phoneme-level abstraction in perceptually induced phonetic drifts while they further suggest that the mechanisms underlying phonetic drifts in direct shadowing, and in subsequent productions of words differing from the shadowing targets, may not be identical.

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.

Evidence for raw acoustics as the target of phonetic imitation

Phonetic imitation (also called convergence or accommodation) occurs when talkers alter their production towards speech they hear, even in lab settings without explicit instruction to imitate. Though general evidence for imitation is robust, much of the existing work does not distinguish between convergence towards a linguistic target versus convergence towards an acoustic target. This study presents a direct test case of these hypotheses through spontaneous imitation of the English alveolar sibilant /s/ in a delayed shadowing task. Participants first produced /s/-initial words, then were exposed to model speech with either enhanced or reduced spectral mean (SM) on /s/, and finally produced /s/-initial words again post-exposure. The model talker had higher than average baseline SM, so raw acoustic values were higher than those of most participants. All participants exposed to the enhanced stimuli raised SM, converging towards both the raw acoustics of the model talker and the linguistic pattern of enhancement. However, participants exposed to the reduced stimuli also raised SM. This diverged from the linguistic pattern of reduction but converged towards the raw acoustics of the model talker, whose SM was still higher than participants' even when reduced. These results suggest raw acoustics can be the target of phonetic imitation. Possible interactions with phonological contrast, implications for the perception-production link, and methodological considerations for future imitation studies are discussed.

Mimicry and affective disorders.

Mimicry, the spontaneous imitation of an interaction partner, is an important part of everyday communication, as it has been shown to foster relationships and increase closeness. People with affective disorders often have problems in their interpersonal lives. In this review, we pursue the question if these problems are linked to differences in mimicry behavior. First, we summarize existing evidence on mimicry, depression and mood. Then, based on five theories differing in their core assumptions regarding mechanisms and functionality of mimicry, we derive suggestions on how mimicry might affect people suffering from bipolar disorders, dysthymia or depression. Depending on each theory, a different understanding of affective disorders and mimicry arises, and we show how the evidence fit in with the suggested theories. Previous studies on affective disorders have focused on mimicry behavior of participants watching photos, computer-generated images, or short video sequences. This review sheds light on the fact that evidence on mimicry needs to be broadened systematically for people with affective disorders in interactional settings. Mimicry represents a novel and important yet underestimated source for diagnostic, intervention and evaluation processes in affective disorders.

Individual differences in phonetic imitation and their role in sound change.

This paper explores the possibility that the spread of sound change within a community correlates with individual differences in imitation capacities. The devoicing of labiodental fricatives in Dutch serves as a case study of an ongoing sound change showing regional and individual variation. The imitation capacities of Dutch speakers born and raised in five regions of the Dutch language area were investigated in a forced imitation task (Study 2) and a spontaneous imitation task (Study 3), and compared to baseline productions (Study 1) of the variable undergoing sound change. Results showed that the leaders of sound change in each region were significantly less accurate in imitating model talkers- when they were instructed to- than conservative speakers, but they were more inclined to spontaneously imitate talkers. These insights are discussed in view of the literature on different types and measures of imitation capacities, on the actors of sound change and the two apparently paradoxical features of the language system: its stability and its potential for sound change.

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.

Manajemen Pembelajaran Pendidikan Agama Islam untuk Penguatan Karakter Agama dan Moral

The study is set against the backdrop of a phenomenon that occurs in society today, regarding the numberof attitudes or behavior and moral decline that is often shown by student, which worries all parties, including school institusions. As an educational institution, school make it possible to create learning activities related to character to strengthening in children, because education in school is formulated in an orderly manner compared to other education, so that schools have an important and strategic role in realizing a generation of people who have good character. To achieve these expectations, scholls should be able to design, plan, implement, supervise, and assessment the strengthening of reeligius and moral characters through learning Islamic Religious Education. TKQ Al Amin and TKQ Al Musyawaroh are schools that carry out management activities in PAI learning to strengthen the religious and moral character of student. This study aims to determine the planning, implementation, and learning assessment of Islamic education learning to strengthen religious and moral characters. The results of this study can contribute and broaden insights to the school principal, teachers of TKQ, chief organization of TKQ , and parents of students about management of Islamic education learning to strengthen religious and moral character. The study used qualitative descriptive methods, data collection techniques conducted with interviews, observation, and documentary studies. This study uses the teory of management functions.s Research shows that learning management activities at TKQ Al Amin and TKQ Al Musyawaroh have appeared to be developing quite well, visible from: 1) the availability of learning planning activities, such as: organizing the annual vision, mission, and learning program, semester program, weekly and daily activities plan. 2) the implementation of learning is held to religious and moral character through regular and spontaneous imitation and habituation, through the learning stages i.e , early learning activities, core activities, breaks, and closing activities. 3) learning assessment covers all aspects of child development which is implemented by observation, checklists, oral and non-verbal tests. 4) inhibiting factors and supporting factors provide the motivation for more optimal learning programs.

Manajemen Pembelajaran Pendidikan Agama Islam untuk Penguatan Karakter Agama dan Moral

The study is set against the backdrop of a phenomenon that occurs in society today, regarding the numberof attitudes or behavior and moral decline that is often shown by student, which worries all parties, including school institusions. As an educational institution, school make it possible to create learning activities related to character to strengthening in children, because education in school is formulated in an orderly manner compared to other education, so that schools have an important and strategic role in realizing a generation of people who have good character. To achieve these expectations, scholls should be able to design, plan, implement, supervise, and assessment the strengthening of reeligius and moral characters through learning Islamic Religious Education. TKQ Al Amin and TKQ Al Musyawaroh are schools that carry out management activities in PAI learning to strengthen the religious and moral character of student. This study aims to determine the planning, implementation, and learning assessment of Islamic education learning to strengthen religious and moral characters. The results of this study can contribute and broaden insights to the school principal, teachers of TKQ, chief organization of TKQ , and parents of students about management of Islamic education learning to strengthen religious and moral character. The study used qualitative descriptive methods, data collection techniques conducted with interviews, observation, and documentary studies. This study uses the teory of management functions.s Research shows that learning management activities at TKQ Al Amin and TKQ Al Musyawaroh have appeared to be developing quite well, visible from: 1) the availability of learning planning activities, such as: organizing the annual vision, mission, and learning program, semester program, weekly and daily activities plan. 2) the implementation of learning is held to religious and moral character through regular and spontaneous imitation and habituation, through the learning stages i.e , early learning activities, core activities, breaks, and closing activities. 3) learning assessment covers all aspects of child development which is implemented by observation, checklists, oral and non-verbal tests. 4) inhibiting factors and supporting factors provide the motivation for more optimal learning programs.

A non-contrastive cue in spontaneous imitation: Comparing mono- and bilingual imitators

This study tests the hypothesis that imitators of different native languages imitate the same targets in distinct ways predicted by their native phonology, by investigating the role of a non-contrastive phonetic property in spontaneous imitation of English voiceless stops by English monolingual and Seoul Korean-English bilingual imitators. The primarily contrastive phonetic property for English voiceless stops is voice onset time (VOT), with the fundamental frequency (f0) of the post-stop vowel being non-contrastive but still informative for the voicing contrast. On the other hand, in Seoul Korean, stop VOT is a non-primary cue, but it is necessary to maintain the full three-way laryngeal contrast in the language. Post-stop f0 is the primary cue for the Seoul Korean aspirated stops. Seoul Korean speakers have been reported to imitate aspirated stops with longer VOT by raising their post-stop f0 (Kwon, 2019). In this study, English monolingual speakers and Seoul Korean-English bilingual speakers heard and shadowed model speech containing English voiceless stops manipulated by either raising post-stop f0 or lengthening VOT. Their imitation was assessed with two acoustic measurements, stop VOT and post-onset f0, of the voiceless stops, before and after the imitators heard the model speech with the two manipulations. A separate discrimination test confirmed that both manipulations were reliably perceived by both the monolingual and the bilingual imitators. English monolingual speakers' imitation data suggest that their shadowing productions reflect the phonological significance of the two phonetic properties, and only the imitative changes induced by a contrastive cue last beyond the immediate shadowing targets. In addition, Seoul Korean-English bilingual speakers, when performing the spontaneous imitation tasks in English, do not draw on their native (Seoul Korean) phonology. Implications of these findings on the role of phonology in the spontaneous imitation of bilingual and monolingual speakers are discussed.

The effect of linguistic experience on perceived vowel duration: Evidence from Taiwan Mandarin speakers

Perceived vowel duration is known to be influenced by many factors, including f0 height/movement and ones’ native phonological system. Using multiple experimental paradigms, this study examined whether native tonal representations and phonetic knowledge of duration associated with different lexical tones may further shape the ways in which vowel duration is perceived. In a perception experiment, Taiwan Mandarin and Korean listeners rated the duration of duration-controlled CV syllables carrying one of the four lexical tones in Mandarin or a reduced T3half (X21). The results showed that perceived vowel duration by Korean listeners, the control group, reflected general perceptual biases: contour tones were rated as longer than level tones, and high-f0 tones were rated as longer than low-f0 tones. Taiwan Mandarin listeners, on the other hand, overestimated the duration of vowels carrying T3 (X214) and T3half, despite their short phonetic duration in Taiwan Mandarin, indicating the significance of the canonical representation of the complex T3 contour. A spontaneous imitation experiment further supported the canonicity effect: T3half was again hyperarticulated, produced as longer and with similar f0 trajectories as T3full, based on its phonological association to T3. Taken together, the findings of the present study suggest that the perception of vowel duration is guided by higher-order phonological knowledge from speakers’ linguistic experience as well as by general perceptual biases.

DSM-5 symptom expression in toddlers.

Children with autism show more social-communication symptoms and repetitive behaviors than children with typical development or those diagnosed with other developmental disorders; however, non-autistic children often show some behaviors that are associated with autism. We compared the behavioral reports from caregivers of children in these three groups to identify the behaviors that were specific to autism. Children with autism were found to show more of these behaviors, and behaviors that are particularly indicative of autism were identified. These behaviors included social symptoms (approaching others to interact, showing things, looking back while showing, responding to an approaching child, spontaneous imitation) and repetitive behavior symptoms (specific, inflexible play, unusual body movements, strong specific interest, carrying around an unusual object, sensory seeking, and sensory hyper-reactivity).These findings may aid professionals in determining the most appropriate diagnosis for a child between the ages of 12 and 36 months.

Imitation and intention understanding in typically developing children and children with autism spectrum disorder

ABSTRACT Imitation has an important place in the observational learning process. Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may experience limitations in imitation ability. These limitations are associated with deficits in abilities associated with ASD including understanding intention. In this study, the imitation skills and intention understanding levels of children with ASD and typically developing (TD) children were compared. Relationships between imitation, intention understanding levels and symptom severity in children with ASD, and the predictive status of these variables on symptom severity were examined. Findings showed that children with ASD experienced limitations in spontaneous imitation and in different areas of understanding intention, compared to their TD peers. There were significant relationships between imitation, intention understanding levels and symptom severity; the level of spontaneous imitation and intention understanding predicted symptom severity.

Development of Mandarin tones and segments by Korean learners: From naïve listeners to novice learners

This work explored how the effects of input modalities on the production of different L2 contrasts may change over the course of L2 phonological development. Spontaneous imitation and orthography reading tasks were framed within a longitudinal investigation tracking the acquisition of Mandarin stops and lexical tones by Korean learners developing from a near-naïve to a novice stage. Imitation prompted by identical auditory stimuli across different phases revealed a decline in the production of T3, which was produced as T2 to a greater degree with more Mandarin experience. This somewhat counterintuitive finding suggests that the initial benefits from the salient acoustic properties of T3 were overridden by the knowledge of the L2 sound system, namely T3 being realized as T2 via T3 sandhi, leading to diminishing T2-T3 contrasts over time. The stop production data, on the other hand, demonstrated the overarching impact of the existing grapheme-to-phoneme association on the phonological development of new L2 sounds. Some learners prompted with Pinyin produced Mandarin unaspirated stops (e.g., <b d>) with long aspiration and low-F0 for high-level tones. This phonetically unfaithful mapping arose from the familiarity with English voiced stops that are often adapted as lenis stops [long VOT – low F0] by Korean learners. Taken together, the findings demonstrate that the effects of input modalities are specific to the different stages of early L2 phonological acquisition as well as to the types of L2 contrasts.

Evaluating the influence of action- and subject-specific factors on chimpanzee action copying.

The ability to imitate has been deemed crucial for the emergence of human culture. Although non-human animals also possess culture, the acquisition mechanisms underlying behavioural variation between populations in other species is still under debate. It is especially controversial whether great apes can spontaneously imitate. Action- and subject-specific factors have been suggested to influence the likelihood of an action to be imitated. However, few studies have jointly tested these hypotheses. Just one study to date has reported spontaneous imitation in chimpanzees (Persson et al. 2017 Primates 59, 19–29), although important methodological limitations were not accounted for. Here, we present a study in which we (i) replicate the above-mentioned study addressing their limitations in an observational study of human–chimpanzee imitation; and (ii) aim to test the influence of action- and subject-specific factors on action copying in chimpanzees by providing human demonstrations of multiple actions to chimpanzees of varying rearing background. To properly address our second aim, we conducted a preparatory power analysis using simulated data. Contrary to Persson et al.'s study, we found extremely low rates of spontaneous chimpanzee imitation and we did not find enough cases of action matching to be able to apply our planned model with sufficient statistical power. We discuss possible factors explaining the lack of observed action matching in our experiments compared with previous studies.

Preliminary Test of the Potential of Contact With Dogs to Elicit Spontaneous Imitation in Children and Adults With Severe Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Finding strategies to enhance imitation skills in people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is of major clinical relevance. To evaluate whether contact with dogs may be a useful approach to elicit spontaneous imitation in people with ASD. Participants completed a spontaneous imitation task under three experimental conditions: after a free-play interaction with a live dog, after a free-play interaction with a robotic dog, and after a waiting period that involved no stimuli. Ten children and 15 adults diagnosed with severe ASD. Imitation ratio, imitation accuracy, and indicators of social motivation. Children appeared more motivated and engaged more frequently in spontaneous imitation in the live dog condition than in the other conditions. No differences between conditions were found for adults for imitation or social motivation. However, correlations suggested a possible trend for adults in time spent engaging with the live dog before testing and in increased imitation frequency. The results are preliminary and do not indicate the utility of integrating (live) dogs into interventions aimed at promoting social motivation and enhancing imitation skills in people with ASD. However, they suggest that doing so holds promise. Larger scale studies are now needed. This research calls for occupational therapy practitioners' attention to the potential benefits that may derive from using dogs to promote spontaneous imitation, and increase imitation performance, in people with ASD, particularly children.

The role of native phonology in spontaneous imitation: Evidence from Seoul Korean

This study investigates the role of phonology in spontaneous imitation in Seoul Korean speakers’ imitation of aspirated stops by comparing the primary and non-primary cues. Seoul Korean aspirated stops are differentiated from stops of other phonation types by at least two distinct acoustic properties, stop VOT and f0 of the post-stop vowel, with the latter being the primary cue. In the imitation experiment, Seoul Korean speakers heard and shadowed model speech that contained aspirated stops manipulated by either raising post-stop f0 or lengthening VOT. Their realization of these properties in /tʰ/, /t/, and /t*/ productions were compared before, during, and after exposure. Although both high f0 and long VOT induced imitative changes in post-shadowing productions, the results revealed that exposure to an enhanced non-primary cue (long VOT) also influences the production of the primary cue for aspirated stops (post-stop f0). However, an enhanced primary cue (high f0) does not have similar effects on the non-primary cue. These results provide evidence that spontaneous imitation is not strictly tied to individual phonetic properties but it is rather phonological in that abstract categories are involved in the process of imitation.