Babies Imitate Because They Are Imitated, LMU Study Finds
Research from LMU Munich suggests that babies develop the ability to imitate others because they themselves are imitated by caregivers during early childhood.
A study from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU) indicates that the human ability to imitate is not innate but acquired through early childhood interactions, particularly when caregivers imitate infants.
Led by Professor Markus Paulus of LMU's Chair of Developmental Psychology and Educational Psychology, the research analyzed the interactions between mothers and their infants over several months, from when the babies were six months old until 18 months. The study, published in Current Biology, observed various play situations.
The findings revealed a direct correlation: the more sensitive a mother was in her interactions and the more she imitated her six-month-old child, the greater the child's imitative ability was at 18 months. This mutual imitation strengthens the connection between a child's actions, feelings, and visual experiences.
Researchers explain that this process forms associative learning, linking what a child perceives with its own motor activities. This developing ability to imitate is crucial for acquiring skills, cultural gestures, and language, forming the foundation for cultural learning and human evolutionary success. The study suggests that the capacity to learn from others is itself a product of cultural learning.