title: Imitative learning from a third-party interaction: relations with self-recognition and perspective taking.
abstract: Young children's ability to learn something new from a third-party interaction may be related to the ability to imagine themselves in the third-party interaction. This imaginative ability presupposes an understanding of self-other equivalence, which is manifested in an objective understanding of the self and an understanding of others' subjective perspectives. The current study measured imitative learning of a novel action seen only in a third-party interaction, mirror self-recognition, and perspective taking in a group of 48 18- to 20-month-olds. Patterns of performance suggest that understanding self-other equivalence is related to third-party learning.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA.
authors.forename: Katherine H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Herold
authors.forename: Nameera
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Akhtar
mesh_terms: D001364:Awareness; D001828:Body Image; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007092:Imagination; D007100:Imitative Behavior; D007223:Infant; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D007804:Language Development; D008297:Male; D018187:Personal Construct Theory; D012649:Self Concept; D014825:Vocabulary