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Newborn imitation has recently become the focus of a major controversy in the human sciences. New studies have reexamined the evidence and found it wanting. Imitation has been regarded as a crucial capability of neonates ever since 1977, when two American psychologists first published experiments appearing to demonstrate that babies at birth are able to copy a variety of facial movements. The findings overturned decades of assumptions about the competence of newborns. But what if claims for newborn imitation are not true? Influential theories about the mechanisms underlying imitation, the role of mirror neurons, the nature of the self and of infant mental states, will all have to be modified or abandoned if it turns out that babies cannot imitate at birth. This Element offers a critical assessment of those theories and the stakes involved.

Imitation in children. --- Newborn infants. --- Infants (Newborn) --- Neonates --- Newborns (Infants) --- Infants --- Neonatology --- Child psychology

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This is the first book to bring together the extensive modern evidence for innate imitation in babies. Modern research has shown imitation to be a natural mechanism of learning and communication which deserves to be at centre stage in developmental psychology. Yet, the very possibility of imitation in newborn humans has had a controversial history. Defining imitation has proved to be far from straightforward and scientific evidence for its existence in neonates is only now becoming accepted, despite more than a century of enquiry. In this book, some of the world's foremost researchers on imitation and intellectual development review evidence for imitation in newborn babies. They discuss the development of imitation in infancy, in both normal and atypical populations and in comparison with other primate species, stressing the fundamental importance of imitation in human development, as a foundation of communication and a precursor to symbolic processes.

Communication interpersonnelle chez les nourrissons --- Development (Psychology) --- Developmental psychology --- Développement [Psychologie du ] --- Imitatie bij kinderen --- Imitation chez l'enfant --- Imitation in children --- Intermenselijke communicatie bij zuigelingen --- Interpersonal communication in infants --- Ontwikkelingspsychologie --- Psychologie [Ontwikkelings] --- Psychologie du développement --- Imitation in children. --- Interpersonal communication in infants. --- Developmental psychology. --- Communication interpersonnelle chez le nourrisson --- baby en peuterleeftijd --- baby en peuterleeftijd. --- Psychologie du développement

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Imitation guides the behaviour of a range of species. Scientific advances in the study of imitation at multiple levels from neurons to behaviour have far-reaching implications for cognitive science, neuroscience, and evolutionary and developmental psychology. This volume, first published in 2002, provides a summary of the research on imitation in both Europe and America, including work on infants, adults, and nonhuman primates, with speculations about robotics. A special feature of the book is that it provides a concrete instance of the links between developmental psychology, neuroscience, and cognitive science. It showcases how an interdisciplinary approach to imitation can illuminate long-standing problems in the brain sciences, including consciousness, self, perception-action coding, theory of mind, and intersubjectivity. The book addresses what it means to be human and how we get that way.

Imitation in children. --- Psychology, Comparative. --- Imitative Behavior --- Comparative Psychology --- Comparative Psychologies --- Psychologies, Comparative --- Behavior, Imitative --- Behaviors, Imitative --- Imitative Behaviors --- Behavior, Comparative --- Comparative behavior --- Comparative psychology --- Ethology, Comparative --- Intelligence of animals --- Animal psychology --- Instinct --- Mimicry --- Social influence --- Imitation --- Imitation in children --- Psychology, Comparative --- Zoology --- Animal behavior --- Animal intelligence --- Human behavior --- Child psychology --- Influence (Psychology) --- Congresses --- Cognitive psychology --- Developmental psychology --- Theory of knowledge --- Imitation. --- Health Sciences --- Psychiatry & Psychology