Meltzoff and Moore

Question 1

What award did Meltzoff win

Answer 1

• In 2005, won an award for outstanding research from the society for developmental and behavioural paediatrics and the Kenneth Craik award in psychology, Cambridge

Question 2

What did Piaget suggest about the capacity for imitation

Answer 2

it develops gradually as infancy progresses

Question 3

What did Piaget think about imitation before 8 months?

Answer 3

infants may seem to imitate but it is an illusion

Question 4

WHat did Piaget think about imitation between 8-10 months?

Answer 4

the first ‘true’ imitation emerges, infants are able to imitate novel gestures

Question 5

What did Piaget think about imitation at 18+ months

Answer 5

(the end of the Sensori-motor period of development): The capacity for representation appears. Deferred imitation is now possible.

Question 6

How many participants took part in the first experiment

Answer 6

• 3 female and 3 male infants between 12 and 21-days from birth

Question 7

How long were gestures shown for in the study

Answer 7

15 seconds

Question 8

How long was the response period in the first experiment

Answer 8

20 seconds

Question 9

WHat were the four gestures in the first experiment

Answer 9

– Lip protrusion,
mouth opening,
tongue protrusion, and
sequential finger movement

Question 10

Which gesture was most imitated

Answer 10

tonge protrusion

Question 11

Who were participants in the second experimetn

Answer 11

• 6 male and 6 female infants ranging in age from 16-21 days

Question 12

What were the results of the second experiment

Answer 12

tongue protrusion imitated most and mouth openings after. both mroe than baseline

Question 13

Why is imitation of facial gestures unlikely to be due to reinforcement?

Answer 13

1. Neutral face of experimenter

2. Most parents don’t seem to notice

Question 14

Why is imitation of facial features unlikely to be due to innate releasing mechanism?

Answer 14

• The number of gestures to be imitated (i.e. four)
• This interpretation ruled out by later findings in 1994: Tongue protrusion to the side
• They adapt to novel situations

Question 15

What is innate releasing mechanism

Answer 15

seeing the adult’s gesture(s) produces an automatic, reflex-like response.

Question 16

What is imitation based on

Answer 16

the infant’s capacity to represent visually and proprioceptively perceived information

Question 17

What does supramodal mean

Answer 17

That transcends sensory modalities, such as vision and hearing. Usually refers to an area of the brain that implements abstract functionality common to more than one source of sensory data.

Question 18

What is imitation accomplished through

Answer 18

an active matching process and mediated by an abstract representational system

Question 19

what is AIM

Answer 19

active intermodal matching

Question 20

Why may children imitate facial features

Answer 20

social identification,

mimicry

Question 21

How are Piaget and Meltzoff and Moore different

Answer 21

Piaget (and many later researchers) found no convincing evidence for imitation until around 8 months, but Meltzoff & Moore suggest that infants are born with the ability to imitate facial and other gestures from birth

Question 22

What did Meltzoff adn Moore find in their follow up study

Answer 22

Infants tended to produce the gesture they had seen the day before!
• This is clear evidence of deferred (delayed) imitation

Question 23

What did Oostenbroeck suggest

Answer 23

you only get the result in tongue opening. Would not find this with happy faces.

Question 24

What did Meltzoff’s follow up study show

Answer 24

The infants imitated the intended act (e.g., pulling the dumbbell apart) and not the experimenter’s actual failed act.

Question 25

What did Meltzoff’s follow up study suggest

Answer 25

perhaps a beginning of ToM

Question 26

What did Gergely et al find

Answer 26

In the “hands occupied” condition the infants tended to switch on the light box with their hands; in the “hands free” condition they tended to switch it on with their heads

Question 27

What did Buttelmann et al find

Answer 27

In the “hands occupied” condition the chimps used their hands; in the “hands free” condition they used their heads

Question 28

How has Meltzoff’s work influenced us

Answer 28

Cognitive science,
early education and parenting,
brain science

Question 29

What are mirror neurons

Answer 29

a pre-motor neuron that fires both when an animal acts and when an animal observes the same action performed by another (conspecific) animal

Question 30

What might mirror neurons help our understanding of

Answer 30

ToM, empathy and many forms of social behaviour