Relations between 18-month-olds' gaze pattern and target action performance: A deferred imitation study with eye tracking
Relations between 18-month-olds' gaze pattern and target action performance: A deferred imitation study with eye tracking
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DOI：
10.1016/j.infbeh.2013.08.005
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发表时间：
2013-12-01
影响因子：
2.1
通讯作者：
Knopf, Monika
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Oturai, Gabriella;Kolling, Thorsten;Knopf, Monika
延迟模仿研究用于评估婴儿的陈述性记忆表现。这些研究发现，延迟模仿能力随着年龄的增长而提高，这通常归因于记忆能力的提高。然而，模仿研究也用于评估婴儿的动作理解。在第二个研究项目中，观察到一岁左右的婴儿有选择性地模仿，即他们模仿某些类型的目标动作并忽略其他动作。与此相反，两岁的孩子通常会模仿模特的精确动作。 18 个月大的孩子比一岁孩子模仿得更精确，但比两岁孩子更有选择性，这一事实使这个年龄段的孩子特别有趣，因为选择性模仿与精确模仿背后的过程存在很大争议。例如，对某些类型的目标行为的选择性注意是否可以解释小婴儿优先模仿这些行为的问题仍然悬而未决。此外，记忆能力和选择性模仿过程之间的关系，以及它们在塑造 18 个月大的孩子既不完全选择性也不完全精确的模仿中的作用尚未得到彻底研究。因此，本研究评估了 18 个月大的孩子对两种类型的动作（功能性目标动作与任意目标动作）的注视和目标动作演示期间模特的脸部，以及婴儿的延迟模仿表现。尽管婴儿对功能性目标动作的注视时间并不比对任意目标动作的注视时间长，但他们模仿功能性目标动作的频率比模仿任意目标动作的频率更高。这表明选择性模仿并不依赖于在演示阶段对功能性目标行为的选择性注视。此外，对个体差异的事后分析表明，婴儿对模型的社会交流线索的关注可能在精确模仿中发挥重要作用，这意味着模仿功能性和任意目标动作。 (C) 2013 Elsevier Inc. 保留所有权利。
Deferred imitation studies are used to assess infants' declarative memory performance. These studies have found that deferred imitation performance improves with age, which is usually attributed to advancing memory capabilities. Imitation studies, however, are also used to assess infants' action understanding. In this second research program it has been observed that infants around the age of one year imitate selectively, i.e., they imitate certain kinds of target actions and omit others. In contrast to this, two-year-olds usually imitate the model's exact actions. 18-month-olds imitate more exactly than one-year-olds, but more selectively than two-year-olds, a fact which makes this age group especially interesting, since the processes underlying selective vs. exact imitation are largely debated. The question, for example, if selective attention to certain kinds of target actions accounts for preferential imitation of these actions in young infants is still open. Additionally, relations between memory capabilities and selective imitation processes, as well as their role in shaping 18-month-olds' neither completely selective, nor completely exact imitation have not been thoroughly investigated yet. The present study, therefore, assessed 18-month-olds' gaze toward two types of actions (functional vs. arbitrary target actions) and the model's face during target action demonstration, as well as infants' deferred imitation performance. Although infants' fixation times to functional target actions were not longer than to arbitrary target actions, they imitated the functional target actions more frequently than the arbitrary ones. This suggests that selective imitation does not rely on selective gaze toward functional target actions during the demonstration phase. In addition, a post hoc analysis of interindividual differences suggested that infants' attention to the model's social-communicative cues might play an important role in exact imitation, meaning the imitation of both functional and arbitrary target actions. (C) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.