The role of context in “over-imitation”: Evidence of movement-based goal inference in young children

Joshua March; Brier Rigby Dames; Christine Caldwell; Martin Doherty; Eva Rafetseder

doi:10.1016/j.jecp.2019.104713

The role of context in “over-imitation”: Evidence of movement-based goal inference in young children

Joshua March, Brier Rigby Dames, Christine Caldwell, Martin Doherty, Eva Rafetseder

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

6 Citations (SciVal)

Abstract

Children, as well as adults, often imitate causally unnecessary actions. Three experiments investigated whether such “over-imitation” occurs because these actions are interpreted as performed for the movement's sake (i.e., having a “movement-based” goal). Experiment 1 (N = 30, 2–5-year-olds) replicated previous findings; children imitated actions with no goal more precisely than actions with external goals. Experiment 2 (N = 58, 2–5-year-olds) confirmed that the difference between these conditions was not due to the absence/presence of external goals but rather was also found when actions brought about external goals in a clearly inefficient way. Experiment 3 (N = 36, 3–5-year-olds) controlled for the possibility that imitation fidelity was affected by the number of actions and objects present during the demonstration and confirmed that identical actions were imitated more precisely when they appeared to be more inefficient toward an external goal. Our findings suggest that movement-based goal inference encourages over-imitation.

Original language	English
Article number	104713
Journal	Journal of Experimental Child Psychology
Volume	190
Early online date	11 Nov 2019
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2019.104713
Publication status	Published - 1 Feb 2020

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We thank the children who participated in this study, their parents, and the nursery staff involved. We also thank Laura Maguire for her help with data collection. This research was made possible thanks to a Ph.D. studentship attributed to the first author from the University of Stirling . In addition, the third author was supported by a European Research Council grant ( 648841 RATCHETCOG ). Appendix A

Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Elsevier Inc.

Funding

We thank the children who participated in this study, their parents, and the nursery staff involved. We also thank Laura Maguire for her help with data collection. This research was made possible thanks to a Ph.D. studentship attributed to the first author from the University of Stirling . In addition, the third author was supported by a European Research Council grant ( 648841 RATCHETCOG ). Appendix A

Keywords

Action understanding
Children
Context
Goal inference
Imitation
Intention

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Developmental and Educational Psychology

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10.1016/j.jecp.2019.104713

Cite this

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abstract = "Children, as well as adults, often imitate causally unnecessary actions. Three experiments investigated whether such “over-imitation” occurs because these actions are interpreted as performed for the movement's sake (i.e., having a “movement-based” goal). Experiment 1 (N = 30, 2–5-year-olds) replicated previous findings; children imitated actions with no goal more precisely than actions with external goals. Experiment 2 (N = 58, 2–5-year-olds) confirmed that the difference between these conditions was not due to the absence/presence of external goals but rather was also found when actions brought about external goals in a clearly inefficient way. Experiment 3 (N = 36, 3–5-year-olds) controlled for the possibility that imitation fidelity was affected by the number of actions and objects present during the demonstration and confirmed that identical actions were imitated more precisely when they appeared to be more inefficient toward an external goal. Our findings suggest that movement-based goal inference encourages over-imitation.",

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The role of context in “over-imitation”: Evidence of movement-based goal inference in young children

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

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