Child-directed action promotes 2-year-olds' imitation

Children are voracious learners and adults are ubiquitous teachers. This project investigated whether the special infant-directed action modifications parents use when teaching their children (called motionese by Brand et al., Developmental Science, 2002, Vol. 5, pp. 72-83) improves 2-year-olds' imitation. Children saw an adult perform a series of acts on four novel objects using either an infant-directed style (including larger range of motion and enhanced boundary marking) or an adult-directed style. Children's imitation of the acts was higher in the infant-directed condition relative to the adult-directed condition, and both types of demonstration increased imitation relative to baseline (no demonstration). We propose that motionese provides information about actions, objects, and intentionality, thereby enhancing toddlers' observational learning. (C) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.