Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Brief Communication
  • Published:

Developmental psychology

Rational imitation in preverbal infants

Nature volume 415, page 755 (2002)Cite this article

Babies may opt for a simpler way to turn on a light after watching an adult do it.

Abstract

Here we show that if an adult demonstrates a new way to execute a task to a group of infants aged 14 months, the children will use this action to achieve the same goal only if they consider it to be the most rational alternative. Our results indicate that imitation of goal-directed action by preverbal infants is a selective, interpretative process, rather than a simple re-enactment of the means used by a demonstrator, as was previously thought1,2,3.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Comparison of the methods used by 14-month-old infants to switch on a light-box 1 week after watching how an adult executed the same task under two different conditions.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Meltzoff, A. N. Dev. Psychol. 24, 470–476 (1988).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Meltzoff, A. N. J. Exp. Child Psychol. 59, 497–515 (1995).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Tomasello, M. The Cultural Origins of Human Cognition (Harvard Univ. Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1999).

  4. Gergely, G. et al. Cognition 56, 165–193 (1995).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Csibra, G. et al. Cognition 72, 237–267 (1999).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Gergely, G. & Csibra, G. Cognition 63, 227–233 (1997).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Csibra, G. & Gergely, G. Dev. Sci. 1, 255–259 (1998).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Bekkering, H., Wohlschlager, A. & Gattis, M. Q. J. Exp. Psychol. Human Exp. Psych. 53A, 153–164 (2000).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Author notes

  1. Harold Bekkering

    Present address: Department of Experimental and Work Psychology, University of Groningen, 9712 TS, Groningen, The Netherlands

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Psychology, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, 1132, Hungary

    György Gergely & Ildikó Király

  2. Max Planck Institute for Psychological Research, Amalienstrasse 33, Munich, 80799, Germany

    Harold Bekkering

Authors
  1. György Gergely
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Harold Bekkering
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Ildikó Király
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to György Gergely.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Gergely, G., Bekkering, H. & Király, I. Rational imitation in preverbal infants. Nature 415, 755 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/415755a

Download citation

  • Issue date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/415755a

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing