Infant pointing is predictive of later language development, but little is known about factors enhancing the development of pointing. The current study investigated two possible social learning mechanisms in the development of pointing. Given that infants observe their caregivers' pointing gestures from early on, one possibility is learning via…

Parity is one source of automatic reinforcement that increases the probability of verbal behavior that conforms to models provided by the verbal community. Parity as a conditioned reinforcer could explain the acquisition of grammar in the absence of direct, explicit reinforcement. This possibility has been explored in previous research on…

Clear and unequivocal evidence shows that observation of object affordances or transitive actions facilitates the activation of a compatible response. By contrast, the evidence showing response facilitation following observation of intransitive actions is less conclusive because automatic imitation and spatial compatibility have been confounded.…

Nursery school children were shown films to vicariously condition either fear or positive emotional responses in them. The children showed a higher rate of responding to the positive stimulus. (Author/KM)

Examines nine studies claiming to have demonstrated facial imitation in the neonatal period. Finds that the claims of early imitative abilities are not well founded: because the matching behavior found is restricted to a single gesture--tongue protrusion--it is best explained as a specific, directly elicited response, rather than imitation. (HTH)

Attempts to define and clarify the concept of response uncertainty of the observer in imitation through a review of research on imitation. (CM)

This study investigated the effect of being imitated on the behavior of preschool children. Twenty-two children were employed in a "marble game," which consisted of dropping a marble into one of three holes in a wooden box. Procedure trials occurred across four phases in an ABAB design: baseline, imitation, reversal, and imitation again. During…

Theories of imitation learning are examined regarding their account of how the infant acquires the ability to emit a response which resembles a response previously exhibited by another. The role of cognition in imitation learning theory is discussed. (BRT)

Selected vocal and gestural imitation items were presented to twenty-four 8-, 14- and 20-month-old boys and girls in an elicited task situation. Both vocal and gestural imitation increased with age, although for each age group there was significantly more gestural than vocal imitation. (BD)

Results indicate that subjects first observing apparatus operation by electromechanical means performed task better than those who had not, and that there is no significant difference between performance of subjects who had observed demonstration by electromechanical device and those who had observed a human model. Applicability of findings…

Pattern of results is discussed in terms of the conceptualization that imitation required both that the observer (1) has acquired and retained the model's responses and (2) has been placed in circumstances which favor activating this learning into overt performance. (Authors)

Six studies relevant to the analysis of generalized imitative behavior are described. The first examined the role of verbal instructions in generalized imitation by comparing the use of a "do this" instruction with no such instruction and the use of positive reinforcement with no reinforcement. The tenacity of generalized imitation in this study…

Piagetian theory provides direction and support for an early identification, early intervention focus for special education of handicapped children. This focus includes guidance and training for parent and child to enhance their relationship and to facilitate the child's movement through normal developmental sequences in sensory-motor, cognitive,…

This study investigates the possibility that the reinforcement strength of stimuli can be enhanced by observational learning as well as by pairing with unconditioned reinforcers. The reinforcement strengths of two candies were determined for 40 preschool children as measured by rate of response on a button pressing apparatus. The children then…