Multiple Imitation Mechanisms in Children

Four studies using a computerized paradigm investigated whether children's imitation performance is content-specific and to what extent dependent on other cognitive processes such as trial-and-error learning, recall, and observational learning. Experiment I showed that 3-year-olds could successfully imitate what we call novel cognitive rules (e.g., first -> second -> third), which involved responding to 3 different pictures whose spatial configuration varied randomly from trial to trial. However, these same children failed to imitate what we call novel motor spatial rules (e.g., up -> down -> right), which involved responding to 3 identical pictures that remained in a fixed spatial configuration from trial to trial. Experiment 2 showed that this dissociation was not due to a general difficulty in encoding motor spatial content, as children successfully recalled, following a 30-s delay, a new motor spatial sequence that had been learned by trial and error. Experiment 3 replicated these results and further demonstrated that 3-year-olds can infer a novel motor spatial sequence following observation of a partially correct and partially incorrect response a dissociation between imitation and observational learning (or emulation learning). Finally, Experiment 4 presented 3-year-olds with familiar motor spatial sequences that involved making a linear response (e.g., left -> middle -> right) as well as novel motor-spatial sequences (e.g., right -> up -> down) used in Experiments 1-3 that were nonlinear and always involved a change in direction. Children had no difficulty imitating familiar motor spatial sequences but again failed to imitate novel motor spatial sequences. These results suggest that there may be multiple, dissociable imitation learning mechanisms that are content-specific. More importantly, the development of these imitation systems appears to be independent of the operations of other cognitive systems, including trial and error learning, recall, and observational learning.