ESRC Society Today

Humans imitate in ways not seen in any other species. Children copy the ways that adults use objects in very particular ways to achieve very particular outcomes, such as using a brush to wash the dishes, or using a towel to dry off after the bath. These abilities appear very early in life, around the age of one year. The social and cognitive abilities underlying imitation are not yet well understood, but current research in developmental psychology suggests several precursors. One of these is known as early imitation, and involves the imitation of facial and head movements such as smiling or turning the head. Mother potential precursor is joint attention, which involves following the direction of another person’s gaze to something of interest, such as a toy or a character in a picture book. Our project examines the relationships between early facial imitation and gaze-following in the first three months of life. This is a longitudinal study examining individual differences between infants’ performances. Infants will be tested each month Using established paradigms for early imitation and joint attention. This study is the first phase in a larger longitudinal study covering the first year of life. By examining the developmental links between early imitation, gaze-following, and attentiveness, we hope to shed new light on hypotheses about the role of early imitation in social interaction and social learning

Award/Grant Outputs and Documents
Click on to download the document.	Number of Documents: 4

• Back to top