Gaze, goals and growing up: Effects on imitative grasping
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Author(s)
Brubacher, Sonja P
Roberts, Kim P
Obhi, Sukhvinder S
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
2013
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Show full item recordAbstract
Developmental differences in the use of social-attention cues to imitation were examined among children aged 3 and 6 years old (n = 58) and adults (n = 29). In each of 20 trials, participants watched a model grasp two objects simultaneously and move them together. On every trial, the model directed her gaze towards only one of the objects. Some object pairs were related and had a clear functional relationship (e.g., flower, vase), while others were functionally unrelated (e.g., cardboard square, ladybug). Owing to attentional effects of eye gaze, it was expected that all participants would more faithfully imitate the grasp ...
View more >Developmental differences in the use of social-attention cues to imitation were examined among children aged 3 and 6 years old (n = 58) and adults (n = 29). In each of 20 trials, participants watched a model grasp two objects simultaneously and move them together. On every trial, the model directed her gaze towards only one of the objects. Some object pairs were related and had a clear functional relationship (e.g., flower, vase), while others were functionally unrelated (e.g., cardboard square, ladybug). Owing to attentional effects of eye gaze, it was expected that all participants would more faithfully imitate the grasp on the gazed-at object than the object not gazed-at. Children were expected to imitate less faithfully on trials with functionally related objects than those without, due to goal-hierarchy effects. Results support effects of eye gaze on imitation of grasping. Children's grasping accuracy on functionally related and functionally unrelated trials was similar, but they were more likely to only use one hand on trials where the object pairs were functionally related than unrelated. Implications for theories of imitation are discussed.
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View more >Developmental differences in the use of social-attention cues to imitation were examined among children aged 3 and 6 years old (n = 58) and adults (n = 29). In each of 20 trials, participants watched a model grasp two objects simultaneously and move them together. On every trial, the model directed her gaze towards only one of the objects. Some object pairs were related and had a clear functional relationship (e.g., flower, vase), while others were functionally unrelated (e.g., cardboard square, ladybug). Owing to attentional effects of eye gaze, it was expected that all participants would more faithfully imitate the grasp on the gazed-at object than the object not gazed-at. Children were expected to imitate less faithfully on trials with functionally related objects than those without, due to goal-hierarchy effects. Results support effects of eye gaze on imitation of grasping. Children's grasping accuracy on functionally related and functionally unrelated trials was similar, but they were more likely to only use one hand on trials where the object pairs were functionally related than unrelated. Implications for theories of imitation are discussed.
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Journal Title
British Journal of Developmental Psychology (BJDP)
Volume
31
Issue
3
Copyright Statement
© 2013 British Psychological Society. This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Gaze, goals and growing up: Effects on imitative grasping, British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 2013, 31 (3), pp. 318-333, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/bjdp.12009. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving (http://olabout.wiley.com/WileyCDA/Section/id-828039.html)
Subject
Cognitive and computational psychology
Social Sciences
Psychology, Developmental
INFANTS IMITATION
SPATIAL ATTENTION