Child-directed action promotes 2-year-olds' imitation.
Children are voracious learners and adults are ubiquitous teachers. This project investigated whether the special infant-directed action modifications parents use when teaching their children (called "motionese" by Brand et al., Developmental Science, 2002, Vol. 5, pp. 72-83) improves 2-year-olds' imitation. Children saw an adult perform a series of acts on four novel objects using either an infant-directed style (including larger range of motion and enhanced boundary marking) or an adult-directed style. Children's imitation of the acts was higher in the infant-directed condition relative to the adult-directed condition, and both types of demonstration increased imitation relative to baseline (no demonstration). We propose that motionese provides information about actions, objects, and intentionality, thereby enhancing toddlers' observational learning.
Department of Psychology, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA 30302, USA. Electronic address: rawillia@gsu.edu.
Rebecca A
RA
Williamson
Rebecca J
RJ
Brand
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007100:Imitative Behavior; D007858:Learning; D008297:Male; D013663:Teaching
Imitation; Infant-directed action; Intention; Learning; Social cognition; Toddlers