Gergely,G. et al. (2002) Rational imitation in preverbal infants. Nature 415, 755

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Gergely,G. et al. (2002) Rational imitation in
preverbal infants. Nature 415, 755 Meltzoff, A.
N. (1988) Infant Imitation After a 1-Week Delay
Long-Term Memory for Novel Acts and Multiple
Stimuli. Dev. Psychol. 24, 470476
Strengths Rethinking results from 14 years
before Meltzoff includes 2 control groups Gergely
adds another group by changing an
act Weaknesses Not very much detail on the repeat
experiment May be overcounting head action
Method 14-month-olds 36 baseline (12),
adult-manipulation control (12), imitation
(12) 27 hands-occupied condition (14), hands-free
condition (13) Six acts dumbbell, hinge, box with
button, egg, bear, box with light Confined to
observing 20 seconds per act or toy First given
opportunity to imitate after a 1-week delay
First 20 seconds after touching the toy was all
that was analyzed The egg and box with light
were changed Scored by someone naive to group
assignment as yes or no Leaning within 10 cm
of the box with light was scored as yes
Results We conclude that the early imitation of
goal directed actions is a selective, inferential
process that involves evaluation of the
rationality of the means in relation to the
constraints of the situation.
Sarah Parikh 5/11/2009