Children's imitations of movements are goal-directed and context-specific.
Previous research indicates that imitation of gestures in preschool children is goal-directed. A goal may be a salient feature from a presented movement; that goal may be imitated correctly, but other features were ignored, resulting in observable errors. Objects (e.g., a dot on the table) can become the most salient features and presence or absence of objects influences imitation responses. Imitation responses were examined under conditions in which objects could not be used directly as the most salient feature. 60 children (M age = 5:6) were assigned to Gestural, Dot, No-dot, and Un-dot conditions, and they were asked to imitate 20 movements. The type of presented movement and the occurrence of correct, mirror, and error responses were examined. Responses in the Un-dot condition were similar to those in the Dot condition. Error responses in the Un-dot condition were related to age. Children may extract a more abstract feature in a context without visible objects. This ability is associated with a cognitive mechanism developed in preschool years.
Mizuguchi
Takashi
T
Department of Early Childhood Education, Iwaki Junior College, 37 Suganezawa, Tairakamata-aza, Iwaki 970-8568, Japan. mizutaka@nifty.com
Sugimura
Ryoko
R
Deguchi
Toshisada
T
D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D002657:Child Development; D002675:Child, Preschool; D007839:Functional Laterality; D005868:Gestures; D006040:Goals; D006801:Humans; D007100:Imitative Behavior; D009068:Movement; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D011930:Reaction Time; D014796:Visual Perception