Deferred imitation in 9- and 14-month-old infants: A longitudinal study of a Swedish sample

2-Year-Olds Learning From 2D Media With and Without Parental Support: Comparing Two Forms of Joint Media Engagement With Passive Viewing and Learning From 3D

The study investigates to what degree two different joint media engagement (JME) strategies affect children's learning from two-dimensional (2D)-media. More specifically, we expected an instructed JME strategy to be more effective than a spontaneous, non-instructed, JME strategy. Thirty-five 2-year old children saw a short video on a tablet demonstrating memory tasks together with a parent. The parents were randomized into two groups: One group (N = 17) was instructed to help their child by describing the actions they saw on the video while the other group (N = 18) received no specific instruction besides "do as you usually do." The parents in the instructed group used significantly more words and verbs when supporting their child but both groups of children did equally well on the memory test. In a second step, we compared the performance of the two JME groups with an opportunistic comparison group (N = 95) tested with half of the memory tasks live and half of the tasks on 2D without any JME support. Results showed that the JME intervention groups received significantly higher recall scores than the no JME 2D comparison group. In contrast, the three-dimensional (3D) comparison group outperformed both JME groups. In sum, our findings suggest that JME as implemented here is more effective in promoting learning than a no JME 2D demonstration but less so than the standard 3D presentation of the tasks.

Comparison of Imitation From Screens Between Typically Developing Preschoolers and Preschoolers With Autism Spectrum Disorder

Typically developing (TD) children exhibit a transfer deficit imitating significantly less from screen demonstrations compared to a live demonstrations. Although many interventions for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) include video materials, little research exists comparing the effectiveness of video demonstration over live instruction. The current study compared imitation learning from live and screen-based demonstrations of how to make a puzzle by 3- to 4.5-year-old TD children (n = 68) and children with ASD (n = 17). Children were tested on either on a three-dimensional (3D) magnet board (MB) with magnetic puzzle pieces or a 2D touch screen (TS) with virtual puzzle pieces. Neither TD nor ASD children exhibited a transfer deficit suggesting that for this task, the transfer deficit ends around 3 years of age. Children with ASD were less efficient overall than TD children on the task and performed worse than their TD counterparts when they were tested with the 3D MB puzzle. These findings suggest that children with ASD have greater difficulty acting on 3D objects than 2D TSs. Future studies should investigate if TSs can be used to teach children with ASD other tasks (184 words).

Entwicklung des Gedächtnisses bei präverbalen Kindern

Zusammenfassung. Gedächtnis ist eine elementare Fähigkeit, deren Entwicklungsverlauf insbesondere für das präverbale Alter bisher nicht eindeutig beschrieben ist. Zur Erfassung von Gedächtnisleistungen im präverbalen Alter werden verschiedene Verhaltensmaße herangezogen. Früheste Beobachtungen von Leistungen des impliziten Gedächtnisses sind über Präferenzverhalten in Paarvergleichs- und Habituationsaufgaben möglich und basieren auf einem Reizinformationsvergleich. Auch operant konditioniertes Verhalten in der Mobile- und Zug-Aufgabe indiziert eine implizite Gedächtnisleistung und basiert auf dem Lernen aus Konsequenzen. Imitationsverhalten als Leistung des expliziten Gedächtnissystems beruht auf Modelllernen in Aufgaben zur verzögerten Imitation. Sowohl im impliziten als auch im expliziten System sind im Entwicklungsverlauf Zuwächse der Gedächtnisleistungen hinsichtlich Kapazität, Behaltensdauer, Enkodiergeschwindigkeit und Flexibilität im Abruf beobachtbar. Die den Aufgaben zur Erfassung von Gedächtnisleistungen zugrundeliegenden Mechanismen deuten auf eine sukzessive Entwicklung zuerst des impliziten, dann des expliziten Systems hin.

Thirteen- to Sixteen-Months Old Infants Are Able to Imitate a Novel Act from Memory in Both Unfamiliar and Familiar Settings But Do Not Show Evidence of Rational Inferential Processes

Gergely et al. (2002) reported that children imitated a novel action - illuminating a light-box by using the forehead - after a delay significantly more often if the hands of the experimenter had been visible in comparison with if they had been covered. In an attempt to explore these findings we conducted two studies with a total N of 63 children. Both studies investigated deferred imitation of the action in two conditions, with the hands of the experimenter visible or covered, but the settings differed. Study 1 (n = 30; mean age = 16.6 months) was carried out in an unfamiliar environment (a laboratory setting) while Study 2 (n = 33; mean age = 13.3 months) was conducted in familiar surroundings (at home or at day care). The results showed that 50% of the children in Study 1 and 42.4% in Study 2 evidenced deferred imitation as compared to only 4.9% (n = 2) in the baseline condition. However, in none of the studies did the children use inferential processes when imitating, we detected no significant differences between the two conditions, hands visible or hands covered. The findings add to the validity of the head touch procedure as a measure of declarative-like memory processes in the pre-verbal child. At the same time the findings question the robustness of the concept 'rational imitation,' it seems not as easy as expected to elicit a response based on rational inferential processes in this age group.

Exploring links among imitation, mental development, and temperament

Links among imitation, performance on a standardized test of intellectual development, and laboratory-assessed temperament were explored in 311 24-month old twin pairs. Moderate phenotypic associations were found between imitation, mental development, and temperament dimensions of Affect/Extraversion and Task Orientation. Covariance between imitation and mental development reflected genetic and shared environmental influences, whereas associations between imitation and temperament reflected genetic, shared, and nonshared environmental influences. Genetic factors linking imitation and temperament were the same as those linking temperament and mental development. Nonetheless, approximately 62% of total genetic variance on imitation was independent of genetic influences on mental development and temperament, suggesting that young children's imitation is not simply an index of general cognitive ability or dispositional style but has many underlying genetic influences that are unique.

Naps promote flexible memory retrieval in 12-month-old infants

Flexibility in applying existing knowledge to similar cues is a corner stone of memory development in infants. Here, we examine the effect of sleep on the flexibility of memory retrieval using a deferred imitation paradigm. Forty-eight 12-month-old infants were randomly assigned to either a nap or a no-nap demonstration condition (scheduled around their natural daytime sleep schedule) or to a baseline control condition. In the demonstration conditions, infants watched an experimenter perform three target actions on a hand puppet. Immediately afterwards, infants were allowed to practice the target actions three times. In a test session 4-hr later, infants were given the opportunity to reproduce the actions with a novel hand puppet differing in color from the puppet used during the demonstration session. Only infants in the nap-condition performed significantly more target actions than infants in the baseline control condition. Furthermore, they were faster to carry out the first target action than infants in the no-nap condition. We conclude that sleep had a facilitative effect on infants' flexibility of memory retrieval.

The relationship between deferred imitation, associative memory, and communication in 14-months-old children. Behavioral and electrophysiological indices

The present study combines behavioral observations of memory (deferred imitation, DI, after a brief delay of 30 min and after a long delay of 2-3 weeks) and electrophysiological (event-related potentials, ERPs) measures of associative memory, as well as parental reports of non-verbal and verbal communication in sixteen 14-months-old children. Results show that for DI, the children remembered the stimulus after the brief but not after the long delay. There was a clear electrophysiological response indicating associative memory. Furthermore, a correlation between DI and ERP suggests that both measures of memory (DI and associative memory) tap into similar mechanisms in 14-months-old children. There was also a statistically significant relation between parental report of receptive (verbal) language and the ERP, showing an association between receptive language skills and associative memory.

Deferred imitation in 9-month-olds

Studies investigating imitation are usually conducted with adult models in Western contexts; therefore, the influence of cultural context and the model’s age on infants' imitation is largely unknown. This study assessed deferred imitation in 9-month-old infants from the German middle-class ( N = 44) and the ethnic group of Nso in rural Cameroon ( N = 43). Infants either received an adult or an older child as a model. Moreover, the test material comprised varying degrees of target action difficulty. Across cultures and target actions infants imitated more when an adult model demonstrated the target actions. However, results revealed that infants did not show an adult model advantage for easier target actions, but only for those that were considered more difficult.

Imitative Learning of Nso and German Infants at 6 and 9 Months of Age

The present study focused on the assessment of imitation performance in a large sample of 6- and 9-month-old infants from two different cultural contexts: German middle-class infants from urban areas and Nso infants from a rural area in northwestern Cameroon were tested by using age-adapted deferred imitation tasks that were varied regarding their cultural familiarity (two types of instruments each being highly familiar for one of the two cultural contexts). Within both cultural groups and without being influenced by the cultural familiarity of the instruments, infants performed more target actions in the test compared with the baseline phase, even though this difference did not yield significance in the group of 6-month-old Cameroonian Nso infants. Moreover, a higher mean number of imitated actions has been observed for 9-month-olds compared with 6-month-olds demonstrating an age-related improvement of infants’ learning ability. Furthermore, at 9 months of age, German infants showed a higher level of baseline activity compared with the infants in the Cameroonian sample, which is assumed to be based on differences regarding the degree of object experiences. Results provide evidence that early in infancy, imitation is a universal learning tool in different cultural environments.

Associative learning measured with ERP predicts deferred imitation using a strict observation only design in 14 to 15 month old children

Deferred imitation (DI) is an established procedure for behavioral measurement of early declarative-like memories in infancy and previous work has indicated a link between this type of memory and brain potentials in infants. The present study compared infants' memory performance in this paradigm with electrophysiological indices of associative learning. Thirty children (M = 14.5 months) participated, of which 15 (8 boys) had acceptable event-related potentials (ERP) recordings that could be included in the final analysis. Deferred imitation was measured with an observation-only procedure using three actions and a 30 min delay. ERP was recorded with a high-density electrode net (128 electrodes) during associative learning. Change scores based on Nc, a middle latency component associated with attentional processes, predicted deferred imitation performance. Thus, associative learning measured with ERP predicts deferred imitation using a strict observation only design in 14 to 15 month old children.

Change in imitation for object manipulation between 10 and 12 months of age

By the end of the first year, infants show dramatic increases in manual skill. In this study we tested one factor likely to contribute to this change: an increase in the capacity for observational learning, which may enable infants to learn new behaviors and practice ones that they already possess. Thus, we evaluated change in imitation between 10 and 12 months of age. Twelve 10-month-olds and twelve 12-month-old infants were shown different kinds of manual actions on a variety of objects; infants also manipulated objects during a free play control condition. Results indicated that older infants benefited more than younger ones in the Demonstration condition and that at both ages, infants performed the target action more quickly after observing a demonstration. We hypothesize that observational learning can help manual skill development by enabling infants to learn new actions and select and practice ones already in their skill set.

Memory and representation in young children with Down syndrome: Exploring deferred imitation and object permanence

Deferred imitation and object permanence (OP) were tested in 48 young children with Down syndrome (DS), ranging from 20 to 43 months of age. Deferred imitation and high-level OP (invisible displacements) have long been held to be synchronous developments during sensory-motor "Stage 6" (18-24 months of age in unimpaired children). The results of the current study demonstrate deferred imitation in young children with DS, showing they can learn novel behaviors from observation and retain multiple models in memory. This is the first demonstration of deferred imitation in young children with DS. The average OP level passed in this sample was A-not-B, a task passed at 8-12 months of age in normally developing infants. Analyses showed that individual children who failed high-level OP (invisible displacements) could still perform deferred imitation. This indicates that deferred imitation and OP invisible displacements are not synchronous developments in children with DS. This asynchrony is compatible with new data from unimpaired children suggesting that deferred imitation and high-level OP entail separate and distinctive kinds of memory and representation.

Toddler see, toddler do? Genetic and environmental influences on laboratory-assessed elicited imitation

The imitative performance of 311 pairs of 24-month old twins (143 MZ, 168 same-sex DZ) was assessed via three multi-step imitative sequences. Composite imitation score correlations suggested the presence of genetic influences on imitation, with MZ correlations significantly exceeding DZ correlations. Univariate model-fitting procedures supported this finding. Substantial broad heritability was found for imitative performance, with no evidence for shared environment. However, we are unable to say with certainty to what extent this heritability is represented by additive and nonadditive genetic variance. Estimates of heritability derived from both ACE and ADE model-fitting procedures accounted for approximately 50% of the total variance, with the remaining variance in imitative performance attributable to nonshared environmental factors.

The role of imitation in the stabilization of handedness during infancy

Only about 50% of infants appear to be right-handed in their first year, yet only 10-12% ultimately become left-handed. Several parameters may control early changes in handedness, and we investigated the role of imitation. We wanted to see if infants, when choosing the hand to manipulate an object, were influenced by the hand used by the experimenter when demonstrating the target action. We observed infants, seated either opposite or on the lap of the experimenter who used either left or right hand. The results show that when a left-handed experimenter demonstrated the action, none of the infants consistently used a right-handed strategy to manipulate the objects, regardless of the position (lap vs. opposite), and even though most infants had shown right-handedness when first grasping the objects. Imitation may thus be part of the parameters that stabilize infant right-handedness, or, on the contrary, that drive infants towards left-handedness.

Infant recall memory and communication predicts later cognitive development

This longitudinal study investigates the relation between recall memory and communication in infancy and later cognitive development. Twenty-six typically developing Swedish children were tested during infancy for deferred imitation (memory), joint attention (JA), and requesting (nonverbal communication); they also were tested during childhood for language and cognitive competence. Results showed that infants with low performance on both deferred imitation at 9 months and joint attention at 14 months obtained a significantly lower score on a test of cognitive abilities at 4 years of age. This long-term prediction from preverbal infancy to childhood cognition is of interest both to developmental theory and to practice.

Relational information processing of novel unrelated actions by infants

Declarative memory in infants is often assessed via deferred imitation. Not much is known about the information processing basis of the memory effect found in these experiments. While in the typical deferred imitation study the order of actions remains the same during demonstration and retrieval, in two experiments with n=30 respective n=25, 10- and 11-month-old infants, the order of novel unrelated actions in demonstration and retrieval was varied (same, reversed, mixed). This allowed a separation of item-specific from item-relational information processing. In both experiments best memory performance was found when the order of target actions remained the same during encoding and recall, demonstrating that infants seem to rely on item-specific as well as item-relational information which has to be ad hoc constructed while encoding.

Exploring the Relation Between Memory, Gestural Communication, and the Emergence of Language in Infancy: A Longitudinal Study

The relationship between recall memory, visual recognition memory, social communication, and the emergence of language skills was measured in a longitudinal study. Thirty typically developing Swedish children were tested at 6, 9 and 14 months. The result showed that, in combination, visual recognition memory at 6 months, deferred imitation at 9 months and turn-taking skills at 14 months could explain 41% of the variance in the infants' production of communicative gestures as measured by a Swedish variant of the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventories (CDI). In this statistical model, deferred imitation stood out as the strongest predictor.

Wissen und Erinnern

Zusammenfassung. In der entwicklungspsychologischen Säuglingsforschung interessiert man sich verstärkt für den Aufbau des Gedächtnissystems. Während früheste Gedächtniseinträge, wie sie in den ersten Lebenstagen (Vertrautheits-, Diskriminations-, Habituationsreaktionen) gefunden werden, dem nicht-deklarativen Gedächtnis zugerechnet werden, werden Imitationsleistungen, wie sie in der zweiten Hälfte des ersten Lebensjahres mittels der Aufgabe zur Verzögerten Imitation nachweisbar sind, dem deklarativen Gedächtnis zugerechnet. Es ist allerdings offen, ob ontogenetisch frühe verzögerte Imitationen anzeigen, dass hier semantisches Wissen oder episodische Erinnerung ausgedrückt wird. Insofern der allgemeine kognitive Entwicklungsstand auf dieser Altersstufe zur Beurteilung mit herangezogen wird, was in dieser Arbeit am Beispiel zweier Forschungsprogramme geschieht (Theorie des Geistes, Entwicklung des Selbst), erscheint es als hochwahrscheinlich, dass Verzögerte Imitationen von Säuglingen im ersten Lebensjahr einen semantischen Charakter haben. Voraussetzungen für Erinnerungen werden im Verlauf des zweiten Lebensjahres erkennbar und entwickeln sich zumindest bis zum vierten Lebensjahr sukzessive weiter.

Do I get what you get? Learning about the effects of self-performed and observed actions in infancy

The present study investigated whether infants learn the effects of other persons' actions like they do for their own actions, and whether infants transfer observed action-effect relations to their own actions. Nine-, 12-, 15- and 18-month-olds explored an object that allowed two actions, and that produced a certain salient effect after each action. In a self-exploration group, infants explored the object directly, whereas in two observation groups, infants first watched an adult model acting on the object and obtaining a certain effect with each action before exploring the objects by themselves. In one observation group, the infants' actions were followed by the same effects as the model's actions, but in the other group, the action-effect mapping for the infant was reversed to that of the model. The results showed that the observation of the model had an impact on the infants' exploration behavior from 12 months, but not earlier, and that the specific relations between observed actions and effects were acquired by 15 months. Thus, around their first birthday infants learn the effects of other persons' actions by observation, and they transfer the observed action-effect relations to their own actions in the second year of life.

Origins of theory of mind, cognition and communication

There has been a revolution in our understanding of infant and toddler cognition that promises to have far-reaching implications for our understanding of communicative and linguistic development. Four empirical findings that helped to prompt this change in theory are analyzed: (a) Intermodal coordination--newborns operate with multimodal information, recognizing equivalences in information across sensory-modalities; (b) Imitation--newborns imitate the lip and tongue movements they see others perform; (c) Memory--young infants form long-lasting representations of perceived events and use these memories to generate motor productions after lengthy delays in novel contexts; (d) Theory of mind--by 18 months of age toddlers have adopted a theory of mind, reading below surface behavior to the goals and intentions in people's actions. This paper examines three views currently being offered in the literature to replace the classical framework of early cognitive development: modularity-nativism, connectionism, and theory-theory. Arguments are marshaled to support the "theory-theory" view. This view emphasizes a combination of innate structure and qualitative reorganization in children's thought based on input from the people and things in their culture. It is suggested that preverbal cognition forms a substrate for language acquisition and that analyzing cognition may enhance our understanding of certain disorders of communication.

Long-term memory, forgetting, and deferred imitation in 12-month-old infants

Long-term recall memory, as indexed by deferred imitation, was assessed in 12-month-old infants. Independent groups of infants were tested after retention intervals of 3 min, 1 week and 4 weeks. Deferred imitation was assessed using the 'observation-only' procedure in which infants were not allowed motor practice on the tasks before the delay was imposed. Thus, the memory could not have been based on re-accessing a motor habit, because none was formed in the first place. After the delay, memory was assessed either in the same or a different environmental context from the one in which the adult had originally demonstrated the acts. In Experiments 1 and 3, infants observed the target acts while in an unusual environment (an orange and white polka-dot tent), and recall memory was tested in an ordinary room. In Experiment 2, infants observed the target acts in their homes and were tested for memory in a university room. The results showed recall memory after all retention intervals, including the 4 week delay, with no effect of context change. Interestingly, the forgetting function showed that the bulk of the forgetting occurred during the first week. The findings of recall memory without motor practice support the view that infants as young as 12 months old use a declarative (nonprocedural) memory system to span delay intervals as long as 4 weeks.

When the event is more than the sum of its parts: 9-month-olds' long-term ordered recall

Research suggests that 9-month-old infants are able to recall single object-specific actions over delays of 24 hours. In the present research we investigated whether 9-month-olds are able to recall over more extended delays, and to recall the temporal order of events, as well as the individual actions in them. In addition, we investigated whether recall can be enhanced by pre- and/or re-exposure to target events. Using elicited imitation of novel, multi-step event sequences, we demonstrated that, as a group, 9-month-olds are able to recall target actions after delays of five weeks. However, after this long delay, only 45% of the infants recalled the temporal order of the events. Re-exposure to events during the delay interval proved necessary for boys, but not for girls; pre-exposure to events did not affect later recall. The implications of individual differences in infants' recall ability for the understanding of the development of the neural correlates of declarative memory are discussed.

OBJECT REPRESENTATION, IDENTITY, AND THE PARADOX OF EARLY PERMANENCE: Steps Toward a New Framework

The sensorimotor theory of infancy has been overthrown, but there is little consensus on a replacement. We hypothesize that a capacity for representation is the starting point for infant development, not its culmination. Logical distinctions are drawn between object representation, identity, and permanence. Modern experiments on early object permanence and deferred imitation suggest: (a) even for young infants, representations persist over breaks in sensory contact, (b) numerical identity of objects (Os) is initially specified by spatiotemporal criteria (place and trajectory), (c) featural and functional identity criteria develop, (d) events are analyzed by comparing representations to current perception, and (e) representation operates both prospectively, anticipating future contacts with an O, and retrospectively, reidentifying an O as the "same one again." A model of the architecture and functioning of the early representational system is proposed. It accounts for young infants' behavior toward absent people and things in terms of their efforts to determine the identity of objects. Our proposal is developmental without denying innate structure and elevates the power of perception and representation while being cautious about attributing complex concepts to young infants.

Deferred Imitation Across Changes in Context and Object: Memory and Generalization in 14-Month-Old Infants

The influence of changes in context and object characteristics on deferred imitation was assessed in 14-month-old infants. In Experiment 1, infants in the imitation group saw an adult demonstrate target acts on miniature objects in an unusual context (an orange polka-dot tent). When later presented with larger objects in a normal laboratory room, these infants performed significantly more target acts than did controls. In Experiment 2, three groups of infants were tested. Infants in an imitation(no change) group saw an adult demonstrate target acts and were subsequently tested in the same room using the same objects as the adult. Infants in the imitation (context + object size & color change) group followed the same procedure, but both the context and two salient featural characteristics of the objects (size and color) were changed between encoding and the recall test of deferred imitation. Control infants did not see the target demonstrations. Results showed that the combined changes in context and object features led to a significant decrease in imitative performance. Nonetheless, in comparison to the controls, infants exhibited significant recall as indexed by deferred imitation. The results show that imitation generalizes across changes in object size, object color, and test context. The implications for theories of memory and representational development are discussed.

What infant memory tells us about infantile amnesia: long-term recall and deferred imitation

Long-term recall memory was assessed using a nonverbal method requiring subjects to reenact a past event from memory (deferred imitation). A large sample of infants (N = 192), evenly divided between 14- and 16-months old, was tested across two experiments. A delay of 2 months was used in Experiment 1 and a delay of 4 months in Experiment 2. In both experiments two treatment groups were used. In one treatment group, motor practice (immediate imitation) was allowed before the delay was imposed; in the other group, subjects were prevented from motor practice before the delay. Age-matched control groups were used to assess the spontaneous production of the target acts in the absence of exposure to the model in both experiments. The results demonstrated significant deferred imitation for both treatment groups at both delay intervals, and moreover showed that infants retained and imitated multiple acts. These findings suggest that infants have a nonverbal declarative memory system that supports the recall of past events across long-term delays. The implications of these findings for the multiple memory system debate in cognitive science and neuroscience and for theories of infantile amnesia are considered.