Meltzoff & Moore (1977) - Infant Imitation

How is imitation defined in this lecture

the process by which an individual observes and replicates another’s behaviour, actions, or expression

what did Piaget argue about early imitation

true imitation develops gradually and is largely absent before 8-10 months

according to Piaget, when does deferred imitation emerge

around 18-24 months, at the end of the sensorimotor period

what key ability did Piaget believe infants lacked early on

inter-modal matching (matching seen actions to unseen body movements)

what was Meltzoff’s main criticism of Piaget’s account

infants imitative abilities were systematically underestimated

what was the aim of Meltzoff & Moore (1977)

to test whether neonates can truly imitate facial and manual gestures

why was the “true imitation vs global arousal” important

to rule out the idea that infants responses were general excitement, not imitation

how did the researchers control for parental influence

parents were not informed of the study aim until after testing

how did the study control for experimenter bias

infant responses were videotaped and scored by blind observers

who participated in Experiment 1

6 infants, aged 12-17 days

what gestures were used in Experiment 1

tongue protrusion, mouth opening, lip protrusion, and finger movement

what was the key finding of Experiment 1

infants imitated the specific gesture they were shown more than others

what additional control was added in experiment 2

use of a pacifier to establish baseline facial movements

what did Experiment 2 demonstrate

neonates imitated tongue protrusion and mouth opening reliably

what conclusion did Meltzoff & Moore draw about age

imitation is present from as early as 12 days old

what theory explains imitation via reflex-like responses

innate releasing mechanisms (IRM)

why was the IRM account rejected

imitation was not fixed, not time-locked and extended to many gestures

what is Active Intermodal Mapping (AIM)

a theory proposing infants intentionally match seen actions with felt body movements, supporting early goal-directed imitation